Divorce is a complicated event, worse; it is more emotional when you have children. It is up to the court to decide who has to contribute the most financially to the raising of the child.
When a judge calculates the child support responsibilities, there are a number of considerations. As you go through the child custody process, Forbes has some facts about child support.
Child support has no tax consequences
According to the tax code, your child support payments do not have negative or positive consequences on your taxes. It will not affect you or your former spouse. However, when it comes to split custody, there may be tax implications. For instance, only one parent can claim a child as a dependent at one time. Often, the parent who can make this claim is the parent who has the child more often. For some couples, they may trade the exemption back and forth every year.
Child support affects spousal support
Child support and spousal support are not necessarily independent of one another. In many instances, a parent may collect both. However, when collecting both, child support will always take precedence. If you have to reduce child support payments, then spousal support payments will also see a reduction.
Child support can change
All child support is modifiable. The court determines your child support payment based on your income, how many children you have, who pays for care and other factors. When calculating child support, the judge will take into consideration your children’s needs and the needs of the parent with physical custody.