Child Support Agreements

One way for divorced, estranged, or unwed parents, perhaps working with a family mediator, to start figuring out how much child support makes sense is by listing each parent’s monthly income and expenses. Then the parents talk about what standard of living they want for their children. Next comes the math, to determine how much help one parent needs from the other to cover expenses for the children to have food, shelter, health care, clothing, and other ordinary things and activities. After looking at how much money is needed and how much is available, parents sometimes discover that the two of them put together do not have enough income to cover all of the expenses in both households. They sometimes need to get creative about finding ways to decrease expenses or increase income. 

 The Commonwealth of Virginia, like most other states, has guidelines for determining what amount of child support is probably appropriate, based on each parent’s income, the cost of health care insurance for the children, work-related child care expenses, and other relevant factors. If parents are working out their own agreement about child support, perhaps with help from one mediator and/or two lawyers, they are not required to agree to the amount the guidelines recommend. 

Some parents agree to share expenses the law would not require. Examples include:

• tuition for private school
• costs associated with sports and other extracurricular activities
• saving for college expenses

A well-trained family mediator can show you what the state guidelines recommend and help you think together about how to cover expenses for your children.