If you are in the Rhode Island family court system and have a child support matter one of the more crucial issues you may encounter is daycare or more generically "child care" costs.
Child care costs are included on the Rhode Island Child Support Guidelines Worksheet and can be a big chunk of your child support obligation, especially if you are the non-placement parent.
By and large the biggest victims of child care costs are fathers. This is by no means intended to insult women, yet practically speaking most mothers are awarded placement of the minor children and therefore the father is the non-placement parent. The non-placement parent (typically, the parent that the minor children do not primarily live with) then ends up bearing the child support payment responsibilities. This may, often times, include child care costs.
Child care costs can be anything from daycamp at the YMCA during the summer to a a full-time licensed daycare provider in your local community.
Two big pitfalls that you should address if you go before the Rhode Island family court for a divorce or a proceeding to set or modify child support as the non-placement parent:
1. Proof of the Child Care Cost. - You should make sure that you have the actual figures from the daycare provider of what the charge will be for the child or children that will be in their program and , if possible, confirm the enrollment. Projections or general "program costs" should be avoided because they are not necessarily the actual costs. You should get the actual costs for the actual program that your child is enrolled in so you will know the true amount of the total costs so that when your portion is calculated you will know that you are paying your fair share of actual costs.
2. Offer Direct Payment - Since childcare / daycare costs are included on the Rhode Island Child Support guideline worksheet they are often lumped together with child support and are directly payable to the placement parent, usually by garnishment of your wages. I recommend that the non-placement parent offer to pay his or her portion of the child care costs directly to the child care provider and included in the Court's Order rather than deduction by garnishment. Why?
First, as long as the non-placement parent makes direct payment to the provider, then he or she is more likely to be paying his or her fair share of the correct cost and is also more likely to be aware of any changes either in the childcare program itself or in the program's cost.
Why are these points so significant?
Verification and confirmation of actual child care costs leads to an accurate and fair calculation of what the non-placement parent must pay as his or her fair percentage share of those costs.
It also prevents the placement parent from simply making a representation as to what he or she says the child care costs are which may be inaccurate and cause the non-placement parent to pay significantly more in child care costs.
If the child care costs end up being paid directly to the placement parent then this ends up being a financial windfall to the placement parent that he or she is not entitled to at the expense of the non-placement parent. What does that mean? Essentially the non-placement parent will be overpaying for the support of the minor child / children.
Offering direct payment to the child care provider leads to the likelihood that the non-placement parent will be paying only his or her fair share of that cost and as a parent paying for the program you should be entitled to receive from the child care provider a complete accounting of the program activities as well as the charges and payment activity on the account should you ever need to verify compliance with the court's order.
Lastly, direct payment to the provider and verification of the program prevent the placement parent from being able to play games with the child care arrangements to create for themselves a financial windfall. For instance, if John makes 80% of the total income that he and his wife Janet make combined, then he is likely to be required to pay 80% of any child care costs. Janet comes into court and says that their daughter Tanya is enrolled full-time at Tiny Timbers Day School at $200 per week. Let's assume John is ordered to pay $160 per week as his 80% share just based on Janet's representation that this is the truth and John's is told that this will be included in his child support and garnished from his weekly paycheck with his employer.
Let's assume that Tiny Timbers Day School only costs $160 per week for their program. John is then paying 100% of the daycare and Janet isn't paying a dime. John should only be paying $128 per week as his 80% of the actual child care costs. Janet doesn't tell John a thing and she is pocketing $132.60 per month from John's overpayment. Assume now that Janet changes her schedule at her job and is able to eliminate two days of the child care at Tiny Timbers for Tanya but doesn't tell John. The cost for 3 days per week is reduced to $110 per week. Each and every week John's paycheck continues to be garnished $160 because John is not informed and Janet likes the extra money coming in. John should now be paying $88 per week but because he is garnished and is not informed he continues to pay $160 a week. Janet is now receiving an extra $309.60 per month as a windfall at John's expense.
The moral of the story. Get written confirmation from the child care provider of the enrollment and the actual costs for your child or children and endeavor to make direct payment of your share to the child care provider a part of the court's order rather than garnishment. Absent these two factors you are likely to be overpaying on the child care costs.
For a complete analysis and reliable legal advice regarding all aspects of your child support and child care rights before the Rhode Island Family Courts, call today.
Authored by:
Christopher A. Pearsall, Attorney-at-Law
PEARSALL LAW ASSOCIATES
70 Dogwood Drive, Suite 304
West Warwick, RI 02893
Call Chris today at (401) 632-6976 for your low-cost Rhode Island Divorce consultation.
"Proud to be Rhode Island's Most Affordable Full-Time Divorce Lawyer"
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