Where the parents have joint or shared custody, involving each of the parents having equal time with the children, both parents are not relieved of their obligation to pay child support. Most parenting plans designate one parent as the primary residential custodial parent. This is necessary especially in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. School districts will look to parenting plans and divorce settlement agreements to establish the primary residential location of the child. The reason for this is that school district want to know who will be responsible for providing schooling for the child or children.
Parent With Greater Income Pays Child Support
In the case of Bast v. Rostoff, the New York State Court of Appeals in 1998, dealt with the issue of an equally shared custody arrangement and obligations to pay child support. In this case both parents requested the court to have the other parent pay them child support. The Court of Appeals (the highest Court in New York State) ruled in shared custody situations, the parent with the greater earned income is by the very nature of earning more money than the other parent deemed to be the non-custodial parent for child support purposes. This causes the parent with the greater income to pay child support payments to the parent with the lesser income. This is an example of the expression “no good deed goes unpunished.” Work hard, get educated, get a good job, earn more money than your spouse, and even if you have 50% of the visitation you still have to pay child support!
The father’s rights lawyers at the Law Office of Elliot S. Schlissel, represent fathers throughout the metropolitan New York area with regard to issues involving child support, custody and divorce.
About Elliot S. Schlissel
