Are clothing expenses part of child support?

[CatvsLion]

The CS guidelines state what is extraordinary (ie Section 7).

Clothing including snow suits is absolutely covered by CS.
You pay offset CS, you have the kids equally. Therefore you have balanced the money in both homes for raising the kids.

So, for all CS covered expenses that are not specifically to do with one house (such as clothing, school trips, allowance, etc) you should split 50/50.You can do this by sharing receipts, having a joint bank account (but still use receipts), or by assuming that you are both spending about the same on these shared expenses.

I prefer sharing receipts, that way I don't have to go to the mall as much - my ex can buy the clothes and all I have to do is pay my half! We are thinking about creating a shared bank account where we always contribute the same amount and a few other rules - I'm a little worried about it, but its worth a try.

I'm a little confused about your post BillM... first you say it is covered then you say it should be split.

Obviously different situations, opinions and scenarios can weigh in on wether Clothing is considered day-to-day expenses or S7 expenses.

My main question was is there anywhere that specifies what regular child support covers? (in plain 'here ya go' text). I think not - which causes problems for parents that don't see eye-to-eye on some things.

We buy clothing at our place she buys clothing at her place, we also buy extra stuff that we dont' ask for compansation for at our place (not sure if she does or not).

Dinkyface made a good point by saying if we both made the same $ and the offset was $0 then who pays for clothing.

So it then comes back to common sense I guess. Everyone buys clothing for their children so they have a change of cloths at the children's homes and for stuff that can't really be transferred you split or split year to year.

Considering our transfers are at school; having two snow suits would not be a viable solution for our child. (2 snow suits or going a period without a snow suit at school is not really the 'best').

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Epona]

Cost of clothing is included with child support, as are school supplies and any other reasonable daily expenses of raising child(ren).

 

[SadAndTired]

CatsVsLion

I will see if I can simplify the clothes thing.

You have 50/50 custody but not 50/50 income. To balance that, you pay offset child support. Supposedly this helps give you equal income for the kids.

So, since you both have equal income for the kids expenses, you should both pay equally for the clothing. One parent can buy the stuff and the other pays back half. Or you could agree by saying we will both spend $100 this month.

Or like some say, get a joint account and put an equal amount of money in it. Use it for the children's expenses.

Hope that helps.

 

[Berner_Faith]

Cost of clothing is included with child support, as are school supplies and any other reasonable daily expenses of raising child(ren).

Correct...ONLY if one parent receives full table amount... in offset situations that is not correct.

Say the incomes are similar and the offset calculation is say $50 transfer from one parent to the other. With what you are suggesting, the parent that receives that $50, must support the child on basically $50 a month.

In an offset situation the CS is used to balance incomes in the household. If offset situations it would only make sense to share the costs of clothing, school supplies, etc, 50/50. You have the children 50% of the time you should be responsible for 50% of their every day needs, clothing included.

How parents choose to go about that is up to them...one parent buys all the clothing, the other reimburses or they each agree to spend this much on clothing or school supplies.

 

[dinkyface]

When someone asks 'does CS cover x', the confusion arises because many assume that 'CS' refers only to the amount paid from one parent to the other. In the context of this question, this is not true.

Regardless of whether full-table amount or offset amount is paid: "CS" (for this question) includes the table amounts of both parents - think of it as a combined pile. To make it easier, you could even think of it as going into a separate account.

For full table CS: The full table amount is transferred from payor to recipient because it is assumed that the recipient is doing all of the spending out of this combined pile.

For offset CS: Only the difference (or more accurately, half the difference) is transferred between parents because it is assumed that both parents spend equally out of this combined pile.

This makes it clear that both parents are supporting the child according to their incomes.

Then when someone asks 'does CS cover X?' they are really asking whether it comes out of this combined pile. If NO, then each parent ante's up ADDITIONAL $'s in proportion to their income.

Ideal world: If both parents acknowledge that the assumptions above (regarding the proportion of actual spending by each parent) are incorrect for their situation, then they can make some common-sense adjustment to how much CS is transferred.

 

[dinkyface]

Or like some say, get a joint account and put an equal amount of money in it. Use it for the children's expenses.

No - not equal. Both parents put their CS table amount in there (assuming you're talking about the whole pile, not just a portion for clothing). Then use it for the children's expenses.

 

[dad2bandm]

For CatVsLion...I would *not* recommend a "joint bank account", to put child support in, if the ex causes or threatens issues over things like she'll go to the school early, to take her snowsuit, and you having to provide your own for child.

You pay offset child support...pay her only the offset support, through a transfer to her. Shared clothing expenses, you pay her just half of that.

 

[Mess]

I'm a little confused about your post BillM... first you say it is covered then you say it should be split..

I thought he was being pretty straightforward.

They have the children 50/50, in which case clothes should be bought 50/50. In their case, the mother often buys all the clothes and he then splits the cost with her.

In a case with a primary custodial parent and the other parent paying support, the cost would certainly come out of CS. With 50/50 they are each technically paying support to the other, so all expenses should work out roughly equally.

 

[billm]

Originally Posted by SadAndTired
Or like some say, get a joint account and put an equal amount of money in it. Use it for the children's expenses.

No - not equal. Both parents put their CS table amount in there (assuming you're talking about the whole pile, not just a portion for clothing). Then use it for the children's expenses.

No way! That would not work. The bulk of CS is used for non shared expenses, such as housing and food, for which each parent is responsible to decide how much to spend on those types of expenses (after offset CS has been paid).

A joint account should be used ONLY for shared expenses (ie. not associated with only one parent (such as clothing and school supplies)). Given that the money for raising the kids has been balanced using offset CS, each parent should contribute equally to this account and the account is used for CS type non household expenses (clothing, non section 7 sports etc)

Furthermore since section 7 expenses should be rare because they are 'extraordinary' and have to be ok'd by both parents, the joint account should not be used for that. Section 7 is not covered by CS so the parents must contribute to those expenses in proportion to income. You could use the shared account to pay for section 7, but each parent must contribute different amounts to that account for those expenses. But the CS covered shared expenses should be paid for via equal contributions to the shared account.

!! To be clear - I am talking about 50/50 access with offset CS method, which is what this thread is about!!

 

[billm]

Regarding shared expenses for offset CS situations and using a joint account to pay for those expenses:

I have not used a shared account, but we are thinking of trying it.

My idea is that when the account is low, we each kick in the same amount (maybe $100) for example.

When we use the account, we keep the receipts, but we also send a text message to the other stating what we bought and why each time we use the joint account.

That is what I was thinking anyway...

 

[dinkyface]

Yes of course .. a good chunk of spending is fixed for each household and/or specific to each household, so any 'pooled pile of money' would be only for expenses not specific to the households e.g. clothing, allowance, transit pass, school supplies etc..

 

[roxyroller71]

I have a question on this.
I only have an interm order and primary care since my ex lives out of province. It's joint.
My sons dad visits and takes my son for vacations.
I try to supply the basics but my experience in the past is that if I send some thing I don't get it back. Old and new items. If my son had new fitting jeans he would be returned with an old version that's sizes smaller. Basically doing a switcharoo.
My ex was passing it on to his family members or just refusing to rt things.
If I sent a DVD or toy, I wouldn't see it again.
So I really limit.
My ex doesn't let my son bring over anything including toys or clothing. And he started this practice right from the start.
I have repeatedly asked for my ex to provide age and weather appropriate clothing.
Of course I supply the basics but I can supply another house. I need the items returned. My son has limited items. How many jeans and sweats do u think I have?
And it's been a concern in the past. It's embarrassing for my son and for me to have my son in that state.
Any thoughts?

 

[firhill]

I try to supply the basics but my experience in the past is that if I send some thing I don't get it back. Old and new items. If my son had new fitting jeans he would be returned with an old version that's sizes smaller. Basically doing a switcharoo.

If I sent a DVD or toy, I wouldn't see it again.

I need the items returned. My son has limited items. How many jeans and sweats do u think I have?

Any thoughts?

Send your son with Dad in the clothes that he came back from Dad's in and don't send toys and DVD's with him unless he brought them from Dad's.