Who Pays for Daycare After Divorce?

When parents are involved in a divorce, many issues must be resolved in order for the marriage to end. Parents should try to come to an agreement on how to share parenting time whenever possible. If they are successful, the court should put a custody order into place so the parent’s timesharing agreement is legally enforceable. If parents do not agree on their own about how they will divide up time with their children, the judge will consider what is in the child’s best interests and will divide up custody accordingly.  The custody division, coupled with the incomes each parent makes and various other factors, are used to determine how much child support must be paid. A standard formula is used in California to calculate child support in order to ensure every child receives financial assistance from both parents. 

When child support is calculated, one big issue that often arises is who pays for daycare after divorce. The cost of daycare can be very expensive and an Irvine family law attorney at Brown & Charbonneau, LLP should be consulted to provide you with assistance in arguing for your preferred daycare payment arrangement. Give us a call today to schedule a consultation and learn how we can assist with all legal matters related to child custody.

Who Pays for Daycare After Divorce?

California Family Code Section 4062(a) states: “The court shall order the following as additional child
support: (1) Child care costs related to employment or to reasonably necessary education or training for employment skills.”  In other words, when calculating the amount of child support that must be paid by a non-custodial parent, the court will consider daycare costs that are necessary in order for the custodial parent to be employed.   This rule is designed to ensure the custodial parent can get training or education, and can go to work, without being burdened by excessively high daycare costs he or she would have to cover alone.

The specifics of how the costs of daycare will be factored in to a child support calculation are going to vary based on whether one parent makes significantly more income than the other, and based on the timesharing agreement dividing up the child’s time among the parents. In general, however, it is common for each parent to be responsible for half of the daycare costs for a child.

A shared portion of daycare costs may be included in a child support order when the couple divorces. This would mean the money will automatically be withdrawn from the paycheck of the parent who is paying support, just as other support payments are automatically withdrawn to ensure they are paid and distributed to the custodial parent in a timely manner. The money for daycare expenditures can be given to the custodial parent who then pays for daycare services.

Brown & Charbonneau, LLP has extensive experience helping parents who are addressing the issue of who pays for daycare after divorce. If you need assistance with child support or custody issues, give our Irvine family law attorneys a call today. 714-505-3000