The following is an excerpt drawn from the Parenting Time Credit section of the Indiana Child Support legislation.
Analysis of
Support Guidelines.
The Indiana Child Support Guidelines are based on the assumption the child(ren)
live in one household with primary physical custody in one parent who
undertakes all of the spending on behalf of the child(ren). There is a rebuttable
presumption the support calculated from the Guideline support schedule is the
correct amount of weekly child support to be awarded. The total amount of the
anticipated average weekly spending is the Basic Child Support Obligation (Line
4 of the Worksheet).
The Guideline support schedules do not
reflect the fact, however, when both parents exercise parenting time,
out-of-pocket expenses will be incurred for the child(ren)’s care. These
expenses were recognized previously by the application of a 10% visitation
credit and a 50% abatement of child support during periods of extended
visitation. The visitation credit was based on the regular exercise of
alternate weekend visitation which is equivalent to approximately 14% of the
annual overnights. With the adoption of the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines,
the noncustodial parent’s share of parenting time, if exercised, is equivalent
to approximately 27% of the annual overnights. As a result, these revisions
provide a parenting credit based upon the number of overnights with the
noncustodial parent ranging from 52 overnights annually to equal parenting
time. As parenting time increases, a proportionally larger increase in the
credit will occur.
Analysis of
Parenting Time Costs.
An examination of the costs associated with the sharing of parenting time
reveals two types of expenses are incurred by both parents, transferred and
duplicated expenses. A third category of expenses is controlled expenses, such
as the 6% uninsured health care expense that remains the sole obligation of the
parent for whom the parenting time credit is not calculated. This latter
category is assumed to be equal to 15% of the Basic Child Support Obligation.
Transferred
Expenses. This
type of expense is incurred only when the child(ren) reside(s) with a parent
and these expenses are “transferred” with the child(ren) as they move from one
parent’s residence to the other. Examples of this type of expense are food and
the major portion of spending for transportation. When spending is transferred
from one parent to the other parent, the other parent should be given a credit
against that parent’s child support obligation since this type of expense is
included in the support calculation schedules. When parents equally share in
the parenting, an assumption is made that 35% of the Basic Child Support
Obligation reflects “transferred” expenses. The amount of expenses transferred
from one parent to the other will depend upon the number of overnights the
child(ren) spend(s) with each parent.
Duplicated
Fixed Expenses.
This type of expense is incurred when two households are maintained for the
child(ren). An example of this type of expense is shelter costs which are not
transferred when the child(ren) move(s) from one parent’s residence to the
other but remain fixed in each parent’s household and represent duplicated
expenditures. The fixed expense of the parent who has primary physical custody
is included in the Guideline support schedules. However, the fixed expense of
the other parent is not included in the support schedules but represents an
increase in the total cost of raising the child(ren) attributed to the
parenting time plan. Both parents should share in these additional costs.
When parents
equally share in the parenting, an assumption is made that 50% of the Basic
Child Support Obligation will be “duplicated.” When the child(ren) spend(s)
less time with one parent, the percentage of duplicated expenses will decline.
Controlled
Expenses. This type of expense for the child(ren)
is typically paid by the custodial parent and is not transferred or
duplicated. Controlled expenses are items like clothing, education, school
books and supplies, ordinary uninsured health care and personal care. For
example, the custodial parent buys a winter coat for the child. The
noncustodial parent will not buy another one. The custodial parent controls
this type of expense. The controlled expenses account for 15% of the cost of
raising the child. The parenting time credit is based on the more time the
parents share, the more expenses are duplicated and transferred. The
controlled expenses are not shared and remain with the parent that does not get
the parenting time credit. Controlled expenses are generally not a
consideration unless there is equal parenting time. These categories of
expenses are not pertinent for litigation. They are presented only to explain
the factors used in developing the parenting time credit formula. The
percentages were assigned to these categories after considering the treatment
of joint custody by other states and examining published data from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey.
