My husband and I are about to finalize our divorce. Neither of us has a lawyer because with the exception of sharing daycare expenses, we have agreed to all terms, including spousal and child support, custody, visitation, asset division, etc.
I am the custodial parent. My husband has the kids every other weekend. I was told that since I work full-time, he needs to split the daycare cost 50/50. He says that since he is paying guideline child support (per the DissoMaster calculations with no "add-ons") that he does not have to pay half the daycare cost. Does guideline child support cover daycare costs too? Or, does he have to pay half the daycare cost, as well as guideline child support? Thanks!!
You should talk to a lawyer. Usually the dissomaster child support calculation does NOT include work related day care cost such that the parents must share 50-50. An attorney could run an accurate calculation for you.
You can include "proper" daycare expenses in Dissomaster calculations. "Proper" daycare expenses are those that are necessary so you (the custodial parent) can work. Such expenses are entered into the "child support add-ons" section of DissoMaster or other child support program. For instance, if you use the California Guideline Child Support Calculator (which you can find here: https://www.cse.ca.gov/ChildSupport/cse/guidelineCalculator?conv_instance=d84671ed-fbed-4c91-b2c9-2857158e1265&conv_id=GuidelineCalculationConversation ) There is a section for "add-ons." When you open up the "add-ons" section, you'll see that it includes a seperate data input field for "child care" (i.e., daycare) expenses.
As for sharing proper daycare expenses, they are typically split equally between parents, unless there is a good reason that the division should be disporportional. I suggest that you go online (Google) and look up California Family Code section 4061 and 4062. Section 4061(a) states: "...the expenses shall be divided one-half to each parent..." Section 4062(a)(1) states: "Childcare costs related to employment..." is mandatory additional child support (i.e., the court has no discretion to say otherwise).
Perhaps more info than you need, but Section 4061(b) talks about apportioning expenses other than 50/50, and the apportionment formula. Please note that unless there is a justifiable reason to split daycare other than 50/50 (such as great disparity between the parents earnings or net disposable income), then the general rule of a 50/50 split should be used.
When it comes to running child support calculations via DissoMaster or the California Child Support Calculator, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Yet, either method described below should lead to the same result.
As said, one method to determine total child support is to enter the daycare expense in the proper "add-on" field. When you do that, you will notice that the daycare cost is equally divided, and half that amount is added onto the non-custodial parent's "basic child support" obligation.
Another option (which many people use if daycare costs may fluctuate) is not to include daycare costs in the child support calculations. Instead, parents simply agree (and put such agreement in writing as part of the child support order) that the daycare costs (whatever they may be from time to time) are "additional child support," and will be divided equally (or whatever proportion the parents agree on that is fair based on the parties respective income; i.e., an apportionment that reflects each parties income relative to their combined income).
Under this latter method, neither party needs to go back to court to modify child support if daycare costs change and one party won't agree to such different amount (e.g., daycare goes up and non-custodial parent won't pay the higher amount, or daycare goes down, and custodial parent won't agree to let non-custodial parent pay less). In other words, if you include daycare as part of the DissoMaster calculation (and hence total child support includes an amount for daycare), and you use that number for the child support order, but then the daycare costs change, you would need to modify the child support order to reflect the change in daycare costs. If you do not include daycare costs in DissoMaster, and daycare costs change, then the basic child support number will not change (and hence the child support order need not be modified to reflect any change).
Hopefully, the above is not too confusing. Remember, the general rule is to split daycare costs 50/50. Daycare costs incurred so the custodial parent can work are considered mandatory "additional child support." Either include such amount in the DissoMaster calculations as an "add-on," or enter an agreement to split daycare 50/50 as "additional support" so if not paid, you can seek enforcement just like if the other parent didn't pay basic child support.
