The Child Support Program, enacted in 1975 as Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act (P.L. 93-647), is one of the most extensive income support programs in the country, serving more children than the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Social Security combined. It is open to all children living apart from their parent. Child support services include locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, establishing and enforcing support orders, modifying orders when appropriate, and collecting and disbursing child support payments. Through the collection and disbursement of payments, the program facilitates the transfer of private income between parents to strengthen children’s financial well-being, thus reducing government costs.
Given its broad reach and interaction with both mothers and fathers, child support is uniquely positioned to support family formation and stability, promote noncustodial parents’ emotional and financial involvement, and link parents to other family-strengthening services. Healthy relationships between parents and between parents and children are vitally important for both child well-being and stable child support payments.
What does child support cover?
In many states, child support was only intended to cover a child’s basic needs, including food, housing, and clothing. The combined income of both parents ideally would give children what they need.
However, some state laws allow for child support to expand to a broad range of expenses and can include the following:
- Necessities
- Medical care
- Educational expenses
- Childcare
- Transportation/travel
- Entertainment
- Extracurricular activities
- College expenses
Child Support Coverage: Typical Expenses
Raising children can run high due to rising educational and healthcare costs. The list below addresses some everyday expenses that a child support obligation might include.
However, child support laws vary significantly among the states. It’s essential to check the child support guidelines where you live to determine how your state determines child support coverage.
States also provide online child support calculators to help parents understand how much child support the paying parent will owe. You input information, including your gross income and the number of children. However, the calculator may not include some of your monthly expenses for your child.
Basic Necessities — Food, Clothing, Shelter
Children need food, proper clothing, and a safe and comfortable living place. At a minimum, you can use child support to purchase groceries, snacks, beverages, and other food items. You can also buy shoes, jackets, and appropriate clothing.
Child support coverage includes costs related to the child’s shelter needs, such as mortgage/rent, lighting, telephone, internet, and utility bills.
Medical Care
Most states require divorced or separated parents to carry health insurance for their children. Typically, the parent with better employee-covered benefits must have a medical, dental, and vision insurance plan.
Uninsured Medical Expenses
Monthly child support payments may or may not be set up to let the parties share uninsured or “extraordinary” medical expenses. Where a state guideline formula addresses this, it may be called medical support.
In Ohio, for example, each child support order comes with a monthly payment for child support and a monthly fee for medical support.
Parents are usually ordered to share the child’s “extraordinary” medical expenses or out-of-pocket medical costs through a percentage formula split. For example, if the parties made the same income for child support purposes, that would be a 50/50 split.
These child health care expenses exceed what the health care insurance plan covers the child. Expenses here may include:
- Co-pays
- Deductibles
- Costs of surgery or other procedures
Depending on the state law, parents must also split the cost of additional medical care that a medical insurance plan may not cover. In many circumstances, this might include:
- Dental work
- Orthodontic braces
- Eyeglasses
- Exceptional health care costs (especially if a child has pre-existing “special needs”)
If these types of out-of-pocket expenses are not set up to be covered in the child support/medical support payments, then the parties need to share information and reimburse one another as appropriate. The parties’ divorce decree or the court’s child support order will often provide direction.
Educational Fees (School Fees, Supplies, and Related Costs)
Education is not free. Even if a child does not attend a private school and is in the public school system, there are several fees to pay. Parents encounter various costs to support school-aged children. It is reasonable for child support payments to cover school needs. Some of the school-related expenses include:
- School clothes/uniforms
- Tuition fees (where applicable)
- Textbooks
- Lunch Money
- Private tutors
Parties must investigate whether these expenses are accounted for in their state’s child support guidelines. If not, they may find it appropriate to agree on a percentage split separately for these items, similar to out-of-pocket health care costs.
Childcare
Suppose one or both parents cannot care for their child due to work-related issues. Child support may cover childcare expenses, including daycare services, babysitters, nannies, or other childcare costs and fees. Childcare during summer, spring break, and some holidays can qualify for childcare coverage. Many state guidelines allow parents to incorporate the cost of predictable childcare expenses in the child support calculation.
Placing the proportionate share of childcare expenses in the child support calculation will often lead to higher monthly child support payments. Incorporating childcare expenses would be advantageous because the parties wouldn’t need to settle each month separately. A disadvantage is that when the child shifts from daycare to school/after-school care, where costs will be lower, the parents need to return to court to modify the child support order.
Transportation/Travel
Since children need to get safely from one place to another, child support can be adjusted to allow for basic transportation and travel costs. The cost to maintain a car includes gas fees, car payments, registration, and insurance. This also covers the cost of riding a bus or other forms of transportation.
For instance, there may be cases where a child travels to visit the noncustodial parent in another area. Often, the child support guidelines need to provide a formula for these expenses. Some parents will acknowledge these expenses by agreeing to a deviation from the guideline child support.
Entertainment
Some courts may hold that a child is entitled to basic entertainment, which includes access to computers, television programs, games, and the internet, as well as visits to movie theaters, amusement parks, camping trips, and other outings.
Child support formulas rarely have a way to estimate appropriate monthly amounts for entertainment and factor that into the support equation. Therefore, parties can agree to adjust child support to pay for a child’s age-appropriate entertainment desires with explicit terms. This could be a deviation in the child support amount or an agreement to split certain entertainment items 50/50, etc.
Extracurricular Activities — Summer Camps, Sports Activities, and More
Child support coverage can incorporate a child’s extracurricular activities—typically those that fall outside of regular school hours, such as after-school programs/classes, summer camp, sports activities, clubs (for example, Girl Scouts), and other non-school-related activities. If the child support formula in your state does not cover these expenses, consider working out an agreed-upon formula and adding it to your court order.
College Expenses
Child support guidelines may account for a child’s college expenses. Many states reason that a child’s education shouldn’t suffer because of their parent’s divorce or separation. These states will typically require a noncustodial parent to contribute to the cost of college, even after the child has reached the age of majority if the child is attending full-time and hasn’t yet graduated.
Most states set the natural termination date for child support at the age of 18 or the status of being 18 and a high school graduate.
If you are in a state that does not require a contribution to college costs, consider setting out additional terms in your divorce decree or parentage court order to address this. If you reach an agreement, ensure the terms entered into the court order are clear and detailed.
Consider when these obligations terminate since some children may take more than four years to earn a college degree. Setting a maximum amount per semester for each parent is also a good idea, as college costs vary dramatically from school to school.
Additional Considerations
All states have established child support guidelines to determine how much child support the law requires a parent to pay. Courts consider a variety of factors, including:
- A parent’s income and ability to pay
- The financial needs of the child
- The amount of support needed to maintain a child’s existing standard of living (if possible)
- The number of children of each parent
- Designations as to primary custodian and the exercise of parenting time
Courts don’t require parents who receive child support to prove that the child support payments go toward specific expenses or activities. The assumption is that parents with physical custody of a child pay for the necessary costs to raise the child. Courts might take exception in cases where a child’s basic needs are unmet, although support payments are current.
When a child’s needs change or there’s a significant change in a parent’s circumstances, such as the loss of a job, it may be necessary for a parent to file for a modification of existing child support. When a parent acts quickly to modify the support after a change in circumstance, the process can be more effective than if they hesitate.
How Does Child Support Work?
The process begins when you apply for child support services, or your local child support office receives a referral from another public assistance program. Then, your local child support office works to find the other parent, legally formalize parentage, set the order, and route the collected funds to the parent owed support.
Every state is different, so contact your local child support office to learn more about the process as it applies to your case.