What are some typical shared expenses regarding children that both parents can expect to share after a divorce?
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Hi hubby,
In addition to child support, you and your spouse would normally need to share your child(ren)'s special or extraordinary expenses. These include expenses such as day care, medical expenses, private school and post-secondary educational expenses. You and your spouse would most likely share these expenses in proportion with your incomes. Normally, day-to-day expenses like food, school activity expenses and anything under $100.00 are not considered special or extraordinary.
LindsayLast edited by Lindsay; 12-02-2005, 10:52 AM.
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shared expenses
dont banked on everything being split down the middle.....if you are primary caregavier with primary custody you will have a fight on your hands getting the ex to pay half......the ex usually believes that a childs requirements should be covered under the lousy amount that is given for support......which btw wont even feed one child for a month........I have been divorced for years and still constant battle for him to pay his share for raising our son........somedays wish he would fall off face of earth so I wouldnt have to deal with it anymore
Good Luck hopefully you can get better results
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I'm with you on this one. Sometimes I feel it's not emotionally worth it to fight. And too expensive to use the court system, (lawyer fees).
My ex feels that because of our financial situation due to our seperation that the children should be pulled out of all activities that cost $$$. Meanwhile, he's driving around in a brand new sports car.
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Just an opinion....
Extra ordinary expenses section 9 otherwise known.
I think a child should be able to participate in the activities if the expenses are reasonable; music lessons, hockey, gymnastics, soccer, baseball summer camp cub scouts, girl guides etc, the list is endless. These expenses should be shared on prorated basis.
The other item that often gets forgotten is the cost of access travel. If access is the child's right then the cost for travelling should also be shared in the same capacity between the parent's but often it is not.
A lot of people don't realize that it also costs the non-custodial parent to have the child for a weekend such as extra food and activities. These expense's can't be ignored also but there is nothing in child support laws to acknowledge these costs and can add up over the year.
Some custodial parent's never send any clothing with the child for the visit and the non-custodial parent has to also pay and provide for clothing while the child is in their care.
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I call them section 7 expenses. (Not 9, I think we are talking about the same thing).
Your right about the transportation cost, especially with the resent price of gas!!! I have that down in my Financial Statement as "Children's transportation costs".
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hubby,
No, you are not obligated to share those kinds of expenses. Section 7 expenses normally just include activities for the children, medical and dental costs and post-secondary education. Day-to-day expenses are the reponsbility of the residing parent, or the party who is parenting the children at the time. I think what everyone is saying that some day-to-day expenses *should* be shared, especially costs for a parent who has to travel a distance to exercise access.
In that kind of situation, one must take into consideration the reason why the non-custodial parent is living so far away. Perhaps that parent simply chose to move, or perhaps he or she was forced to move to accept a job that he or she would not have been offered in the city in while the children reside. Excessive travel expenses for access can be taken into consideration by the court in determing whether child support for a non-custodial parent may be reduced, but it really depends on why the travel is necessary.
Lindsay
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Day care expenses
Whoa! I was under the impression that both parrents were responsible for daycare costs?
My wife only wants me to have the kids every second weekend when no daycare service is required.
This being said, since she would have them during the periods when she would be the care giver and requries the daycare services, she would be responsible for picking up the costs?
This is my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong? This makes a big difference in my budget numbers.
Hubby
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Sorry for the heart palpitations hubby! Daycare costs are considered a section 7 expense as well.
How section 7 expenses costs are to be shared is not set in stone. There a guidelines that may be followed, but everything depends on the custody situation and what kinds of expenses each party incurs. Some parties split everything 50/50, but there are also some cases where one parent agrees to pay all section 7 expenses in lieu of child support. It all comes down to how many expenses are involved and what the parties are willing to agree to.
You may want to start with an outline of the custody situation and the expenses that you and your spouse are currently incurring. If you can sit down and together and try and negotiate some issues, fantastic! If not, consider sitting down with a lawyer. An outline will allow him or her to give you a better idea of what you can expect and what approach you may take when negotiating how section 7 expenses are to be shared with your spouse.
Lindsay
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Ok heart back to normal.
Thanks Lindsay,
I guess this is why so many spouses have a difficult time with custody rights and agreeing to the arrangements ... it basically boils down to affecting child support payments and possibly spousal payments and daycare costs?
Hubby
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Hubby,
Although a lot of parents have trouble adjusting to paying for costs or child support when the child isn't in their care, I personally think the most "trouble" comes from custody issues, not support issues. No parent wants to be away from their children for days or weeks at a time. Most people would think things would stay amicable if they ever separated from their spouse, but when it actually happens, there is so much emotion involved that it makes it really hard to commuicate with their soon-to-be ex spouse.
And that's why we're here. Thanks for all of your questions.. I'm sure you've asked quite a few that have been on a lot of our members' minds!
Lindsay
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