Child Support - Establishment, Part 4
At this point we have talked about gross income as much as I care to, so we will turn to the next basic element of the guideline support calculation: daycare.
Work-related daycare means that the child is in daycare while the custodial parent is at work. If you think that does not need to be spelled out, you would be surprised. Sometimes parents who work part time, or who do not work at all, will have their children in daycare outside of work hours. It is one thing if the child is in daycare while a parent is commuting, because that is still a work-related activity. It is another thing entirely for a child to be in daycare so a parent can go run errands. There is nothing inherently wrong with the latter, but it does not count for purposes of child support.
Daycare costs also need to be correctly averaged. The cost is often different between the school year and the summer, but the calculation just takes one input for daycare costs. Then, since children are not usually in daycare for the entire year--there are holidays, summer vacations, etc. when daycare is not needed--those gaps should also be accounted for as best as possible.
Please enjoy this disclaimer: The content of this post, indeed of all of my posts, is intended to reference only Virginia law. I am writing this blog to give some idea of the complexities that can underlie family law issues in Virginia and in no way am I giving anyone legal advice here. While I hope these posts will be informative, no one should feel entitled to rely on the information presented here as an authoritative source. Anyone facing a legal issue is well advised to speak to a lawyer face to face to discuss the specifics of that case, rather than relying on general information found on the internet.