Child Support Rights and the Joint Custody Laws

By: Sarah Dillon | Posted: 24th September 2010

Child support rights are a serious cause of concern for parents caught up in child custody battles on the breakdown of a relationship.It is vital to understand your child support rights and obligations..


The Validation for Child Support

When one parent is granted the custody of the child, this is referred to as sole custody.

The custodial parent keeps the child, which is considered as his or her input to the upbringing of the child. The non-custodial parent, who is generally given visiting rights, meets his or her responsibility by contributing to the financial cost of sustaining the child.

In the Case of Joint Custody

Usually, with joint custody the child support is divided between both parents, based on how their income measures against the sum of their joint earnings, and also on the amount of time the child stays with each parent.

Deciding the Amount of Child Support

Child support is usually planned by considering the needs and requirements of the child. The following factors are generally considered when calculating financial support:

- The child's needs
- The parent's ability to pay
- The standard of living of the child before the divorce
- The needs of the custodial parent

If a Parent Cannot Pay Child Support

A parent is often expected to pay the sum due in keeping with the dates decided on by the court.

If a parent has a legitimate reason, such as changed financial conditions, they may approach the court with a request to alter the amount of support.

If allowed, this will only be applicable to future payments. In this case, the judge will order the parent to pay in full any overdue payments immediately.

It is strongly advised for any parent in this type of situation to do a little research first to understand how the system works and then to engage appropriate legal advice.

If this is beyond the means of the parent there are good sources of such information on the internet written by child psychologists with considerable experience in this area.

Check out joint custody of children and filing for child custody at http://ChildJointCustody.com ,an informational site all about child custody and get your FREE child Custody book.
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Tags: amount of time, parents, earnings, relationship, legal advice, legitimate reason, upbringing, divorce, custodial parent, exper, child support, joint custody, validation, sole custody