Does Joint Custody Affect Child Support Payments?

What Joint Custody Means

"Joint custody" can refer both to the physical and legal custodial arrangements between separated parents. Joint legal custody indicates an arrangement wherein the parents share decision-making authority with regard to the major issues affecting the education and upbringing of their children. Joint physical custody indicates an arrangement wherein the parents share not only decision-making authority but also the actual physical placement of the children. While the arrangement may not be exactly 50/50, joint physical custody usually means each parent spends significant amounts of time with the child. Sharing joint legal custody alone has little bearing upon the actual physical custodial arrangement; a parent can share joint legal custody of his children but have only limited physical time with them, such as every other weekend.

The federal Family Support Act of 1988 required all states receiving funds for Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) to establish presumptive child support guidelines by 1994. Following the federal mandate, all states now have guidelines for establishing child support amounts. While these guidelines vary from state to state, all of them take into account the incomes of the parties involved, medical insurance costs, work-related child care costs and extraordinary expenses. The support amounts specified by the guidelines are presumed correct and reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

While joint legal custody has no effect on child support, the physical custodial arrangement exercised by the parties can have a dramatic effect on the support amount. In North Carolina, for example, the child support guidelines shift to a different calculation formula once a parent receives 123 or more overnights with the minor child per year. After that point, support paid to the primary physical custodian of the child decreases with every extra overnight the secondary physical custodian receives in the custody agreement or order. A parent who enjoys equal placement time with the child will pay significantly less child support than a parent with the same income who has his child only every other weekend.

Although child custody can affect support, the converse is not automatically true. Being ordered to pay a high percentage of one's income in child support does not automatically entitle an obligor to more time with her children, as courts in all states must decide matters of child custody based upon the best interests of the children. Child support can, however, influence child custody in cases where custody is at issue between the parties and the parent who is supposed to be paying support willfully fails to pay it.