As my ex husband and I approach the matter of child support, he decided to start paying a portion of our daughter’s daycare directly to her school. He had not paid any support for a year prior to this. Paying directly to her school after I filed for child support, is his attempt to deviate from the worksheet that would eliminate the childcare costs on my side of the calculation and reduce his support obligation. My daughter resides with me at minimum 80% of the time during the year, and should my ex not pay her childcare fees on any given week, this jeopardizes my ability to secure my job and would also still make me liable for the payments. Do I have to agree to his workaround, and is it likely that a judge would take his approach even though he has a track record of not making support payments outside of a court order?
It’s possible to calculate work-related childcare costs outside of the child support Worksheet such that each parent pays a percentage of the childcare directly to the childcare provider.
Usually the total amount that the paying parent pays in both child support to the other parent + work-related childcare directly to the childcare provider is roughly equal to the amount the paying parent would pay to the other parent if the work-related childcare costs were calculated into the child support Worksheet.
Anna Ayscue
Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest
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