In New Jersey, child support payments are used for the purpose of providing financial support to a child. In most cases, the non-custodial parent pays child support to the custodial parent.
How are child support payment amounts determined?
Child support payments are calculated by the court. Initially, the court will take both parents’ incomes into account as well as other factors to determine how much the payments should be. Sometimes, situations can change, and the original amount may no longer cover the child’s basic needs. In this case, you can ask the court to change the amount of support you receive. Many parents who want to modify child support payment amounts work with experienced divorce attorneys to help them navigate the process.
Spending child support payments
Understanding what child support pays for can be confusing for many divorced parents. The majority of child support payments should cover the child’s basic needs, such as:
- Food
- Shelter
- Clothing
A parent can use child support payments to purchase groceries, snacks, shoes, jackets and other things the child might need. Payments can also be used to cover things like utilities, cellphone bills and rent.
Medical care
You can use child support payments to pay for any medical treatment that’s necessary for keeping your child healthy. This could include things like doctor’s appointments, checkups, medications, dental visits and more.
School expenses and extracurricular activities
Even if your child attends public school, there are probably plenty of expenses that will come up. Items like books, lunch money and tutors can quickly add up. Your child support payments can help to cover these expenses along with costs related to extracurricular activities like sports activities and summer camps.
Children of divorced parents deserve to have their needs taken care of. If your child support payments aren’t covering basic expenses, considers asking the court to modify the payment amount.
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