The concept of child support extends well beyond funding. Although funding plays a crucial role, it still leaves much to be desired in assuring a child of parental support. Unfortunately, the child often suffers in the aftermath of a divorce and is often starved of essential support. This article intends to inform and provoke parents who have hitherto neglected other areas of parental support of their wards into accepting and taking up responsibility. In fact, the court does not give consent to a divorce or annulment until issues bordering on payment of child support are sorted out.
The amount of support
The amount set aside for child support is actually gottenfrom extensive negotiations and mutual agreement by the parents concerned. Where parents are at loggerheads with each other over who bears the responsibility of child support, the court could arbitrate by insisting that both parents contribute a percentage of their income to the child’s support fund including medical bills. The court’s template for levying parents on child support is based on parent’s capacity as against ability. The court arrived at this basis for levying parents with child support as a result of intentional tendencies of parents to avoid this responsibility by deliberately settling for low paying jobs ; what the court looks at instead when levying parents is the earning potential of parents having assessed their worth in terms of education and skill
Why Parents Pay Child Support?
Although the answer to this question is very obvious, but for the sake of clarity and emphasis it is still necessary to set the record straight first by stating that parents were yesterdays children who only became today’s adult as a result of the care and support of others, and therefore have the responsibility of raising today’s children by providing physical care, spiritual and emotional support. As a result, divorce is not tenable reason to evade this responsibility. In fact while the court rarely interferes where both custodial parents and the child stays together, the court based on sharing formulas it deems fit according to the merit of each case orders custodial parents and the non- custodial parent (obligor) in a divorce to remit their contribution to the child or children’s support fund.
Where the obligor is not forth coming with his or her share of support fund, the care giver may take legal actions by hiring a family law attorney who would save the custodian parent the stress and lengthy process of legal filings associated with recovering a child’s support claims. More so, after an interview with the client, the experience of a family law attorney would be relevant in deciding on the best action to file in court in order to get a favourable outcome. Whatever the reasons put forward by an absconding non- custodial parent for not contributing his or her share of the child’s support, the objective of the family attorney would be to commit the non- custodial partner to his or her legal responsibility
