Understand what child support payments help to cover

On Behalf of | Jul 12, 2017 | Blog, Firm News

When you and your child’s other parent aren’t in a relationship any longer, there is a chance that either you or your ex will have to pay child support. These payments are meant to help pay for the expenses associated with raising a child.

There are some instances in which parents who pay the child support payments will want to know exactly how the payments are being used. This is perfectly understandable. The following points will help you understand what child support covers.

Housing

Your child needs a place to live. Child support can help to pay the mortgage or rent. It can also go toward paying for utility bills, cable, internet and other similar bills. Essentially, the money can go to anything in the home that your child will use, even if the items or services benefit other people in the home.

Food

Your child needs to eat, so child support can go toward buying food. The food that your child eats doesn’t have to be separated from the food that other people in the house eat.

Clothing

Your child needs clothes to wear, so this is another expense that child support payments can help to cover. This includes clothing for school, as well as clothing in general.

School and extracurricular activities

School and extracurricular activities cost money. Your child support payments can go toward these expenses. It can also go toward paying for entertainment costs. Even though extracurricular activities and entertainment aren’t necessary to sustain life, they do help your child to enjoy life.

Medical expenses

Not all medical bills are covered by insurance. When your child needs something health related, child support can help to cover these costs. Over-the-counter fever reducers are one example of a medical expense that might be covered by child support.

It is sometimes difficult for the paying parent to hand over money without knowing exactly how it will be used. When it comes to child support, the primary consideration is that the child is taken care of and has what he or she needs.

The parent who receives the child support might just deposit it into the bank and spend as necessary without having to differentiate what is coming from child support and what is coming from other income. This is perfectly fine. However, you can petition the court to look into how child support is being spent if you know that something is amiss. An example would be if you are paying child support and your child is homeless, hungry or without clothing.