Child support & overnights

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

I have a few different questions related to child support & visitation:

Quick background: the child’s father and I were never married and we’ve only had a verbal visitation and support agreement in place for the past 10 years. I would technically qualify as the primary physical custodian in terms of number of overnights she is with me.

1/ What can be included in “extraordinary expenses” section of Worksheet A for child support? Several websites have indicated that private school tuition is legitimate, while social services indicated that it is not standard when they handle the case and that a judge would have to approve it.

2/ What is used to substantiate the defendant’s salary in child support? Taxes and pay stubs from the past year may not tell the whole story – what if there is other compensation such as stock options?

3/ The girlfriend of my child’s father basically lives with him and stays overnight every night our daughter is with him. If I sought a legal custody arrangement (we only have verbal), would that offer me any legal enforcement against this?

2

Private school may be included as an extraordinary expense if the court determines the expenses are reasonable, necessary, and in the child’s best interests. In cases where the court approves such an expense, it is normally a situation where the child has been attending the private school for sometime, and the court finds the expense reasonable in light of the parties’ incomes, and that it is not in the best interests of the child to be removed from his or her school setting.

Other forms of compensation are included in gross income, and all documents necessary to show a party’s income are discoverable and admissible in evidence. Many counties have disclosure requirements that require the parties to exchange all financial information prior to the hearing automatically without the other party having to seek the same through discovery.

The issue of the girlfriend may affect your ex’s custodial time, but only if the court finds that this person is a danger to the child mentally or physically.