Child Support: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

When considering child support, what you don’t know can hurt you. Most people know that if they are the residential custodial parent – which basically means the parent who has the child or children more of the time than the other parent – then they are entitled to receive child support.

What they may not know is that child support only covers the basics of the child’s expenses, namely, housing, food and clothing.

In addition, if you have childcare and healthcare expenses for the child, then you can receive additional child support to help you cover those expenses.

There is a long list of expenses that child support doesn’t cover. When getting divorced, you need to take this into account.

One of the largest potential areas of expenses that are not included in basic child support are extracurricular expenses. Extracurricular activities such as athletics, music, art, martial arts, theatre are typically not covered.  Those activities can have the following expenses:

• Registration fees
• Equipment
• Travel expenses
• Lesson fees
• Costume fees
• Competition fees
• Sneakers or specialized footwear
• Trainers

Although, surgeries, doctor appointments and prescription medicines are covered under “medical expenses”, the following medical expenses are typically not covered:

• Vitamins
• Over-the-counter medicines (for example: Aspirin, Advil or Ibuprofen, Tylenol or Acetaminophen)
• Dietary alternatives
• Feminine Hygiene products
• Acne products

Childcare expenses will be shared between the custodial parent and the non-custodial parent (typically with each parent paying their pro-rata share).  In a similar fashion, if camp is a substitute for childcare, then the camp expenses will also be shared between the parents. However, typically only the basic fee to attend the camp will be covered, and any extra fees will not be covered.

In addition to all of the above, there are many expenses that are not covered, for example: (i) child’s cell phones; (ii) child’s computers; (iii) prom dresses or tuxedos; (iv) yearbooks; (v) gifts to teachers; (vi) class trips, to name just a few.

As you can see, what you may not know about child support, can add up to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each year. If you are getting divorced and need more information about child support or any other issue involved in your divorce, then call David Badanes, Esq. and the Badanes Law Office. David Badanes and the Badanes Law Office have helped numerous individuals with questions about child support expenses and basic child support.

Contact the Badanes Law Office today at 631-239-1702 or email at david@dbnylaw.com.The Badanes Law Office has two offices in Long Island: Northport and Uniondale.

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