Getting What Is Rightfully Yours

The Driving Purposes Of Child Support: A Better Way To View The Money You Give Your Ex

11 May 2017

Estelle Mathieu

After a divorce, the very last thing you want to do is give your ex money. However, if you are ordered to pay child support, that is exactly how you might view it. It creates a lot of hostile and negative feelings, especially if you suspect that your ex is not using the money on the kids or if you distrust him/her to do what is right with the money. It may help to discuss these issues with a child support lawyer and/or a therapist so that you can feel better about it. It also helps to view child support in the way that the courts do, which would allow you to feel better about giving this money to your ex.

Child Support Is Supposed to Be a Shared Responsibility

When both former partners were together, they shared the financial responsibility of caring for the children. The courts usually expect this to continue after the divorce, regardless of who has custody of the kids. This means that, while you give your hard-earned cash to your ex to take care of the kids, he or she is also supposed to contribute a like amount to care for them. If he/she is just relying on the child support and is not working, you can request that your child support lawyer address this in court. The children cannot get everything they need from just one parent, and your ex should be paying just as much for their care.

Your Children Need to Eat, See Doctors, and Be Fed Well

If the tables were turned and your ex had to pay child support to you, you would not be upset about that, would you? Probably not, because you would be feeding them, clothing them and taking them to doctor's and therapist's appointments directly. Then you would need the child support money from your ex to do that. It is the same here (or it is meant to be the same) when you have to pay your ex child support. He or she is directly caring for the kids but relying on that money to care for them.

You should view this as giving the money to the kids, since that is exactly how the court views it. The only difference is that you are not giving the money directly to the kids, since they would not be able to manage these expenses on their own. Ergo, your ex is essentially their financial guardian, so to speak.

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