If you and your spouse are planning to divorce and you have children under 18, one of you is probably going to have to pay child support. But many people don’t actually know what child support is for.
The primary purpose of child support is to provide enough money to ensure that your child will have:
- Food
- Shelter
- Clothing
In the last few decades, money from child support is also required to offset the cost of work-related child care and healthcare.
But there are also “extraordinary expenses” which, depending on how much they cost annually, may or may not be added to the basic child support obligation (BCSO). These expenses contribute to the child’s overall cultural, social and educational experience, and include things such as:
- Music or art lessons
- Athletics (including expenses such as uniforms, equipment and required safety gear)
- Travel (through student or cultural exchanges, for example)
In the simplest terms, these extraordinary expenses may be calculated as part of the BCSO only when they exceed the set amount by 7% each year.
In addition, private school education and associated costs for technologies, uniforms, etc. may be added to the child support obligation depending on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, whether the child(ren) historically attended private school during the parties’ marriage.
The primary residential parent contributes financially, too
When child support is calculated, it is not – as some erroneously believe – so that only one parent contributes financially to the raising and development of the child(ren). The primary residential parent’s (PRP)income is also taken into consideration, as is the amount of time the alternate residential parent (ARP)will spend with the child. The goal is for both parents to contribute to the raising of the child: physically, emotionally and financially. And while we sometimes hear stories at our Nashville office about the PRP spending child support on frivolous items such as hi-def televisions or expensive vehicles, more often than not this isn’t the case.
If you have questions about child support guidelines in Tennessee, or want to know more about how your support payments are calculated, give us a call. We’re always happy to help parents better understand the process, and we can help you apply for a modification if your financial situation changes.
Karla C. Miller has devoted her entire career to the practice of family law in Tennessee. She attended Auburn University and Nashville School of Law, and upon graduation in 1996, she opened her own law firm and has been assisting families throughout Tennessee since then. Learn more about Karla C. Miller here.
