Is Child Support Necessary for 50/50 Custody in Atlanta?
50/50 custody has become quite common for divorced parents in Georgia. If you share equal parenting time with your ex, you might wonder whether child support is even necessary. Does it make sense to pay or receive child support if both parents devote equal amounts of time to their children? The answer may be more complicated than you realize, and you might want to continue this discussion with an Atlanta child support lawyer.
When Is Child Support Unnecessary With 50/50 Custody?
Child support could be unnecessary in situations with 50/50 custody splits. However, parents would may only avoid paying child support if they each earn roughly the same amounts.
The logic is that if each parent spends the same amount of time living with the child, they incur the same basic parenting expenses. These might include food, shelter, clothing, education, and health care for the child. If both parents are incurring the same basic costs, there is no need for one parent to reimburse the other.
However, this logic holds only if both parents have approximately the same income and assets. If one parent earns half as much as the other, one might argue that the cost of parenting is more burdensome. In comparison, the parent who earns twice as much can handle these parenting costs more easily. As a result, the court may determine that the higher-earning parent should help the lower-earning parent cover these costs. While this might not seem “fair” to the paying spouse, it is nonetheless “equitable” in the eyes of the court.
These Situations Are Quite Rare
Parents should know that child support is common. Although it might be possible to avoid this process, these situations are quite rare. For courts to decide that child support is unnecessary, spouses must earn similar incomes, have the same general net worth, and spend equal or nearly equal parenting time with their children.
It is much more common for spouses to have different incomes and net worths. Often, the earnings of both spouses differ significantly. Although shared custody is common, a true 50/50 split does not always occur. For example, one spouse might need to focus more on their career or may have work-related travel obligations. This spouse might only take the kids on the weekends, and they would therefore incur fewer parenting costs as a result. These are all factors that the family court considers when calculating child support.
Can an Atlanta Child Support Lawyer Help Me?
If you are searching for answers as you approach child custody, consider speaking with an experienced family law attorney in Atlanta. These legal professionals can assess your unique situation and determine how much child support you stand to receive or pay. Each family is slightly different, and this is why generalized online research may fail to provide targeted answers. Learn more by contacting Kaye, Lembeck, Hitt & French today.
Source:
childsupport.georgia.gov/
