My husband had a job change and took a significant decrease in income (not his choice) and a recalculation is being done because of it. His ex-wife has chosen to not work and it has been proven it is in bad faith that she did this.
The judge stated that if income is to be imputed as to what she is capable of making, daycare expenses can be imputed as well, even if they are not being used because it is based on her working. The child will be turning 11 years old in December.
Here is my question, at what age would a judge stop allowing or not input child care cost for a custodial parent - working or not working?
There is no age limit for work-related childcare costs when determining child support. However, the Child Support Guidelines require that childcare costs be reasonable and that they reflect what a parent does pay or will pay for childcare.
Thank you for the response. Hypothetically speaking…if a child is a Freshman in High School, a parent could still claim to have to pay for child care even though they have reached and surpassed the okay age for a child to be able to stay at home by their self?
Can it be shown that a child is responsible and mature enough to stay at home after school by their self for a short period of time?
(The custodial parent is not working, but claims the child would be have to be in before and after school care - so it was inputed into child support and the amount that was allotted increased support by $300 a month…is this reasonable?)
Work-related child care expenses must be reasonable and must reflect what the parent actually pays or what they will pay. A parent involved in a child support modification could question what the other parent would actually pay for a high school student, and it would be up for the judge to decide whether it is reasonable or not to include in the child support worksheet.
The parent questioning the reasonableness of work-related child care expenses could try to show the judge that the child is responsible and mature and thus work-related child care expenses would be unreasonable. This would be up to the judge to decide.
Increasing child support by $300/month would be reasonable if the work-related child care expenses are reasonable. Unless the parties agree, this would be determined by the judge.