Paying for Extracurricular Activities After Divorce
When parents are separated or divorced and raising a child, the child is entitled to receive financial support from both mom and dad. The parents should create a parenting time or custody arrangement that explains how visitation and custody will be shared. Based on the family income and the amount of time that the child spends with each parent, one parent may be required to pay child support to the other. A standard formula taking into account the number of children, each parent’s share of income and each parent’s responsibility for the kids is used to determine how much support is due.
While a child’s needs, such as daycare or medical expenditures, are considered in factoring child support, extracurricular activities are generally not a part of the child support calculations. As a result, it can become complicated to determine who is responsible for paying for extracurricular activities after divorce. An experienced Las Vegas child support lawyer at Pintar Albiston can assist in the process of assessing who should pay for the clubs, sports and other activities in which your child participates.
Who is Responsible for Paying for Extracurricular Activities After Divorce?
Parents are encouraged to create their own parenting time or custody agreement, and to create their own agreements dividing up marital assets. While child support is determined by a standard state formula, parents may also address the issue of who is responsible for paying for extracurricular activities after divorce. If parents come to an agreement that they will share these costs, then the agreement should be included in their divorce settlement.
If parents do not agree and negotiate on this matter when they separate and dissolve their marriage, then the general rule is that the parent who wants the child to do the activity will be responsible for covering the costs. If both parents want to have the child participate, then they can also agree at any time to divide up the expenditures in any way that they see fit.
Outside of an agreement by the parents, however, usually there is no way for one parent to compel the other to cover a part of the costs of extracurricular activities. Since this is not a part of the state child support formula, a judge is not going to specifically consider this when thinking about a child’s needs and issuing a support order. There may be limited exceptions such as if the child is involved in extracurricular activities as a part of therapy for a medical condition or if an activity has been an integral part of a child’s life and both parents should be expected to continue to subsidize the costs. However, this is not common.
If you are concerned about money or about protecting your child’s rights to continue to participate in activities he or she loves, you need to understand your rights at the time of your divorce. A Las Vegas child custody lawyer at Pintar Albiston can provide you with the assistance that you need in making decisions on child support and custody. Call today to schedule a consultation and learn more.