What Expenses Should Child Support Cover?

For parents trying to navigate new child support claims, it can be difficult to know how child support will change your lifestyle. Whether you are the custodial or noncustodial parent, it’s likely that you’re hoping your child support order will mean a better quality of life for your child. With that said, the legalities in any child support order mean that while there are recommended things the custodial parent should use support for, there are no hard lines on what you can and can’t spend your support checks on.

For a closer look at ways child support and your support order could be spent to improve your child’s life and meet their basic needs, read on.

The Legalities

img

Many parents who are new to child support and child support orders have a lot of questions. If this is you, it’s a good idea to reach out to your attorney or a legal service for help. For example, if you live in Orlando, learning about child support in Florida at a place like Legal Eagles, where you can get any questions you have about child support answered, is a great way to have a positive experience with the support order process.

In most places, there are no laws on how you spend your child support payments. While the idea behind child support is to provide for a child’s basic needs like health insurance, clothing, food, and private or public high school education, the custodial parent is free to make decisions about whether to spend support checks on dental health or Christmas presents. If you aren’t sure how you can spend your support checks, check with the court or department of health and human services that signed your order. You can always ask your lawyer during your first visit, too.

Essential Care

img

For most people, a child’s dental needs are important and expensive. On top of providing for a child’s overall health, a custodial parent is responsible for paying for comprehensive dental care, orthodontics, and other dentistry needs. Maybe you’re a parent in New South Wales and love your dentist in Sydney, like CDC Dental. Perhaps your child having a confident smile is important to you, but your income level makes that beautiful smile harder to achieve. Using your support payments to pay for your child’s dental care is a great way to spend them.

Essential care for your child extends well beyond dental treatment and the dentist. When considering how you’ll use your support order, it’s important to look at your gross income and assess your child’s other needs, too. For some parents, creating a parenting plan that lists how you’ll spend support payments can be a great way to ensure your child’s basic needs, like doctor’s visits and education, are accounted for.

Your Child’s Basic Needs

img

Filling your child’s basic needs checklist is easier with good credit. While most people struggle from time to time, it’s important to consider things like unemployment, underemployment, and overall income as you work to prioritize the needs of the child you love. Keep in mind that kids have emotional needs, too. Spending money on free-time activities is a great way to bond and okay to devote part of your monthly income to.

At the end of the day, no matter how big or small your child support order, research shows that kids do best when their parents work together to put their needs first. In spending child support payments wisely, whether it be on dental needs, paying off credit cards, maintaining a civil relationship with your co-parent, or doing what you can to make your child a priority, your child will have a happier life for it.

Best of luck to you as you and your ex-partner work to give your child every opportunity they deserve while putting their needs first.

Share your love
Christophe Rude
Christophe Rude
Articles: 15883

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *