Are clothing expenses part of child support?

[LifeMovesOn]

My ex and I have recently separated and we share our childrens' custody 50/50. Because I earn a higher income, I am paying $700 in monthly child support to my ex based on the federal child support guidelines. Should she be expected to buy the childrens' clothing from the child support monies she is receiving? She is claiming that clothing is an extraordinary expense. I disagree.

[billiechic]

no, clothing is not an extraordinary expense, it is included in child support.
Is the money you pay for CS the difference in what you would each pay? If that is the case you are each expected to contribute to clothing expenses equally.Some parents each provide a set of clothes at their own homes, or if you can share clothes it would be less costly.

[LifeMovesOn]

Yes, the CS I pay is the net difference we would both pay each other. Extraordinary expenses are paid based on our prorated incomes....60/40.
So we should be sharing the clothing expenses 50/50?

[NoahsDaddy]

Originally Posted by LifeMovesOn

Yes, the CS I pay is the net difference we would both pay each other. Extraordinary expenses are paid based on our prorated incomes....60/40.
So we should be sharing the clothing expenses 50/50?

You are paying child support every month and that money is for "day-to-day" expenses. I had to have the same conversation with my ex; the rationale that I used was "do you wear clothes every day?" Answer was yes...so, your support money should be used towards clothing.

Obviously it is a good idea to have some clothes for your child at your place, but, I would think that anything larger and expensive eg. shoes, winter coats/snow pants etc. could be transported back and forth. Reality is that you pay your support money and the court has deemed the receiving parent responsible enough to decide how it is spent. Any clothing that your ex purchases for your child, you have already contributed to.

[NoahsDaddy]

Originally Posted by LifeMovesOn

My ex and I have recently separated and we share our childrens' custody 50/50. Because I earn a higher income, I am paying $700 in monthly child support to my ex based on the federal child support guidelines. Should she be expected to buy the childrens' clothing from the child support monies she is receiving? She is claiming that clothing is an extraordinary expense. I disagree.

Sorry - question for you - when you say custody is split 50/50, are you referring to physical custody? Eg. the children spend half of their time with both parents?

I only ask because that seems like a very high amount of child support if you have the children half the time. If you do have the children half of the time, you probably shouldn't be paying the table child support amounts.

Friends of mine have a shared custody arrangement. Essentially, they operate on the "whatever I spend when they're with me, I spend and whatever you spend when they're with you, you spend" principle. Nobody is paying child support but, they do split clothing costs...everything 50/50 and they go through receipts together every month. to remiburse each other if necessary.

It seems unfair to expect that one would pay child support and then contribute to the cost of clothing on top of that....kinda burning the candle at both ends if you ask me.

[HatesCheaters]

Agree with the others. Clothing is part of CS.

Are you also paying spousal support? Have you signed a formal separation agreement? If not, are your Net Disposable Incomes close? For sake of argument, if she has say 45% of NDI, then I would argue, which I successfully did, that since you have the children 50/50 that extraordinary expenses be paid based on the NDI ratio not gross income ratio. It's only fair (not that fair has anything to do with family law!).

I too have 50/50, pay tabled offset CS, and, due to major salary difference pay SS. I pay extraordiary expenses at the NDI ratio, not at the gross salary ratio.

[CSAngel]

HatesCheaters - can you explain what gross salary and NDI ratios are?

Also I have a question concerning support - there are two issues with custody - physical location and decision making - which one is support based on? If I have the right to make all the decisions but we share physical custody 50/50 do I pay CS to my ex?

It's so confusing!

[Mess]

NDI is net discretionary income. "Discretionary" usually means what you have left over after necessities in your budget. Discretionary income in this case means the amount after deducting your payments of support. Paying extraordinary expenses at NDI would mean that you subtract the child support payments of the payer and add them to the receiver and then figure out the proportion of expenses each pays. That isn't an automatic deal.

"Gross salary" is what you earn before you make any support payments. The term usually refers to line 150 on the tax return, before any personal deductions are claimed. Usually the special expenses would be split according to this.

"Custody" in Ontario means decision making but the term sometimes is also used to mean where the child lives, like in the income tax help guide they refer to shared and split custody. This gets confusing.

Decision making has nothing to do with child support. The child support is calculated according to how much each parents earns. If the child lives within the range of 60/40 with each parent, it's considered 50/50 and each parent is calculated to pay the other parent. The amount paid is the difference between what you would pay and what your ex would pay.

[#1StepMom]

Originally Posted by NoahsDaddy

You are paying child support every month and that money is for "day-to-day" expenses. I had to have the same conversation with my ex; the rationale that I used was "do you wear clothes every day?" Answer was yes...so, your support money should be used towards clothing.

Very well put, ND! :-)

My stepson's mom also tried to argue that we should contribute to clothes... and for years we had to buy the child clothes (she would refuse to send clothes with the child for visits). It wasn't until my husband brought the issue up in court that the judge told her that child support pays for clothing and that it is her responsibility to provide clothing with the child for visits and vacations. You should have seen the look of horror on her face! (Sorry... no more Carribean vacations twice a year!)