Joint Custody and Child Support in your Texas divorce
Houston Family Lawyers: When we use the term “joint custody” what do we mean, exactly? Custody as a word does not appear in the Texas Family Code even once. It is a term that we use to combine all aspects of parenting after a divorce- visitation, possession, access, and conservatorship. In yesterday’s blog post we discussed the concept of joint legal custody which has to do with the rights and duties that you as a parent possess towards your child. At the outset of today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC I would like to talk about the other side of joint custody- physical custody of your child.
Sharing physical custody of your child is referred to as possession in the Family Code as well as in your Final Decree of Divorce. In theory, what joint physical custody allows for is the ability of both you and your ex-spouse to be able to continue to grow in your relationships with your child. Having the ability to physically interact with your child is different than being able to make decisions on your child’s behalf alone. While these rights are important, it is almost like being a stock trader if you only have legal custody of your child. The physical aspects of your relationship are what many parents crave coming out of a divorce. This is likely because parents, yourself included most likely, have legitimate fears about being able to see their child as much as they would like as a result of the divorce.
Stability and consistency in your ability to parent your child is important as your post divorce life begins. Having regular time to spend with your child means that you are there for him to her to ask questions of and to get direction on the issues that affect him or her on a daily basis. I have heard parents talk about how they fear their child will be losing him or her as a parent after the divorce and that he or she would do anything to maintain their place in their child’s life. This, I believe, is that joint physical custody offers parents such as yourself.
Potential negatives of joint physical custody
Houston Family Law Attorney: As with everything in life, there are positives and negatives to point out in regard to joint physical custody. For starters, the whole concept of shared physical custody of your child hinges on your and your ex-spouse’s ability to co-parent with one another. This is a phrase that appears often in our modern day language regarding divorce and child custody. Co-parenting is really nothing more than the tenants of joint physical and legal custody combined into one word.
Ideally, you and your ex-spouse are able to work together to make decisions in real time that can positively impact your child. If this sounds familiar it should- it sounds a lot like marriage itself. The downside to consider is obvious: you and that other person spent months trying to rid the other from your life. Now you are expected to bury the hatchet and work with each other on the subject that is the most important to each of you? Sounds like a recipe for bad blood and arguments.
Consider also your child. If your case were to proceed to a judge it is likely that he or would order standard visitation times for the parent who is not awarded the right to designate the primary residence of your child. This is done in part because it is thought that an every other weekend visitation schedule with the non-primary parent will negatively affect your child the least. Children thrive on consistency and stability, and a possession schedule that causes your child to have short stays at each parent’s house is unlikely to go over well for some children.
Finally, on a practical level after a divorce you and your spouse will need to develop your own, individual lives. This means that you will need to rent your own apartment or make house payments on a single income. Costs will increase, temporarily at least, while your income goes down. This is a recipe for financial troubles that can persist long after your divorce concludes if you are not careful. Money troubles may have caused your divorce and those money troubles will not go away just because the divorce has finalized. Inputting your child into the middle of this can be a potential problem as well.
How do courts setchild support in Texas?
Divorce Lawyers in Houston: If children are half of the divorce equation, and money is the other half then child support is the one subject that encapsulates both halves. The State of Texas has guidelines which provide child support percentages to be assessed against an obligor parent’s net monthly income. Income means (basically) any money earned as a result of work performed- wages, tips, salaries, commission, bonuses, etc. One child before the court means that twenty percent of your net monthly income is to go towards child support. Two is 25% and so on until you have can have at most fifty percent of your net monthly income utilized for child support purposes.
The goal of these child support formulas is to attempt to come close to what percentage of your income as an obligor parent would go towards the direct support of your child. Of course if your child were to need a pair of shoes for their basketball season or a new calculator for school you probably would not bat an eye to pay for these items as well. However, child support is intended as a bare minimum for you to pay for the support of your child on a monthly basis. If your child has special needs that require medical attention on a regular basis your child support obligation will likely be higher than the guideline levels we discussed earlier.
In what circumstances could below guidelines levels of child support be ordered?
Family Lawyer Houston: The most frequently seen example that I can relate to you involve if you have other children who you are responsible for but are not presently before the court, as far as reasons why a less than guideline level of child support could be ordered for you to pay. For example, if you have a child from a previous marriage that you pay child support for, a “credit” will be issued in your current child support calculation meaning that you would only be obligated to pay 17.5% of your net monthly income rather than 20%.
Consider also an example that many parents run into indivorce negotiations. If you and your spouse are able to agree to true 50/50 custody- meaning that you and your spouse share equally in physical custody of your child then there is more reason to agree on a very low level of child support to be paid- or none at all. If you and your spouse earn similar incomes that is another factor that could lead to there not being any child support obligation inputted into your divorce decree.
Keep in mind that if you are the parent who has visitation rights to your child he or she will have extended periods of possession with you in the summer. You will still be obligated to pay child support to your ex-spouse during these periods. There is nothing in the family code that allows for parents to avoid payments for the times that their child is in their possession, other than if the primary conservator makes it known that he or she is allowing an unofficial change to occur in who determines the primary residence of the child.
Child Support Enforcements and College costs- tomorrow’s blog post topics
Divorce Lawyers Houston: If today’s subject matter was of interest to you then we hope that you will return to read about more subject matter related to child support. In the meantime if you have questions regarding these subjects or any other in Texas family law please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. We offer free of charge consultations with one of our licensed family law attorneys six da ... Continue Reading
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