Divorce and Child Support

My spouse and I are ready to begin divorce proceedings in NC (have been separated 1 year and have lived in NC over 6 months). We already did property division in the separation agreement, and she is not seeking alimony. We do have 1 minor child, so she will be seeking child support. “Will be” because I am currently unemployed and looking for work, and she is understanding of my situation.

My first question is can we do an absolute (uncontested) divorce now and do custody/child support later?

My second question goes into the custody/child support issue more… Our child lives with her about half the time and with my parents the other half (maybe even a little bit more with my parents). I am with our child every weekend at my parents (who live very close to the school and everything else our child is involved in) and 1-2 times during the week. Since my spouse works two jobs, she rarely spends quality time with our child. My parents and I (although more so my parents currently) certainly contribute financially towards raising our child.

My second question is, assuming for argument’s sake that the situation I explained above remains basically the same and she gets full custody, how will everything above figure (if at all) into how much child support I will pay?

Yes, you can get divorced now and worry about custody and child support later. Your parents expenses for child care are not to be counted as your expenses for child support calculation purposes. The only expenses that will count for you are expenses you pay in health insurance and day care. If your parents are paying for either or both of those, then you cannot count them.