Who Pays for Extracurricular Activities After a Divorce?

 Posted on May 24, 2018 in Family Law

If you are going through a divorce and have children, there are a number of important decisions you need to make. You have to determine where your children will live and how frequently they will spend time with their non-custodial parent.

Child support payments will also have to be arranged. While you may know that child support covers a food, water, shelter, and other basics, you may wonder who is responsible for paying for extracurricular activities during a divorce.

How Child Support Works

During a divorce that involves children, one parent typically has full custody of the children while the other parent has visitation rights. In addition, the non-custodial parent will also likely be required to pay child support to the parent who has full custody to provide them with financial support.

Child support payments allow children to maintain the lifestyle they enjoyed when their parents were married. Although these payments do cover basic necessities, they can also be used for extras in life such as sports, art classes, music lessons, and other extracurricular activities children may participate in.

A child support agreement is approved by the court and outlines the amount of the payments and how long they will be received. This agreement can be created by parents on their own or with the assistance of a moderator. Since you and your children’s other parent know your children best, it is ideal if you can design the child support agreement on your own.

In the event you and your soon-to-be-ex are unable to come to an agreement, a judge will create one for you. Keep in mind that the figures they calculate may not take your child’s extracurricular activities into consideration and force one parent to make up the difference.

What Divorcing Parents Should Consider

Extracurricular activities offer various benefits to children including increased self-esteem, new friendships, improved physical health, and time management. If you would like your children to participate in extracurricular activities, you should sit down with the other parent and agree on the particular activities your children will be participating in. Also, determine who will be responsible for taking children to these activities and ensure that child support payments will cover them.

Contact Our DuPage County Divorce Lawyers

If you are unsure of how your children’s extracurricular activities will be paid for after a divorce, we encourage to reach out to our highly skilled DuPage County divorce lawyers at Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices. We will help you create or understand your child support agreement.

Source:

https://www.illinois.gov/hfs/SiteCollectionDocuments/HFS1759.pdf