Joint Custody and Child Support in your Texas divorce

When we use the term "joint custody," what do we mean exactly? Custody as a word does not appear in the Texas Family Code even once. We use a term to combine all aspects of parenting after a divorce- visitation, possession, access, and conservatorship.

In yesterday's blog post, we discussed the concept of joint legal custody, which has to do with the rights and duties that you, as a parent, possess towards your child. At the outset of today's blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, I would like to talk about the other side of joint custody- physical custody of your child.

Sharing physical custody of your child is referred to as possession in the Family Code as well as in your Final Decree of Divorce. In theory, joint physical custody allows for both you and your ex-spouse's ability to continue growing in your relationships with your child.

Being able to interact with your child physically is different from making decisions on your child's behalf alone. While these rights are essential, it is almost like being a stock trader if you only have your child's legal custody. The physical aspects of your relationship are what many parents crave coming out of a divorce. This is likely because parents, yourself included, most likely, have legitimate fears about seeing their child as much as they would like due to the divorce.

Stability and consistency in your ability to parent your child are essential as your post-divorce life begins. Having a regular time to spend with your child means that you are there to ask questions and get direction on the issues that affect them daily. I have heard parents talk about how they fear their child will be losing them as a parent after the divorce and that they would do anything to maintain their place in their child's life. This, I believe, is what joint physical custody offers parents such as yourself.

Potential negatives of joint physical custody

There are positives and negatives regarding joint physical custody, as with everything in life. For starters, the whole concept of shared physical custody of your child hinges on your and your ex-spouse's ability to co-parent with one another. This phrase often appears in our modern-day language regarding divorce and child custody. Co-parenting is nothing more than joint physical and legal custody tenants combined into one word.

Ideally, you and your ex-spouse can work together to make decisions in real-time that can positively impact your child. If this sounds familiar, it should- it sounds a lot like marriage itself. The downside to consider is obvious: you and that other person spent months trying to rid the other of your life. Now you are expected to bury the hatchet and work with each other on the essential subject to each of you? Sounds like a recipe for bad blood and arguments.

Consider also your child. If your case were to proceed to a judge, he or they would likely order standard visitation times for the parent who is not awarded the right to designate the primary residence of your child. This is done in part because it is thought that an every other weekend visitation schedule with the non-primary parent will negatively affect your child the least. Children thrive on consistency and stability, and a possession schedule that causes your child to have short stays at each parent's house is unlikely to go over well for some children.

Finally, after a divorce, you and your spouse will need to develop your individual lives practically. This means that you will need to rent your apartment or make house payments on a single income. Costs will increase, temporarily at least, while your income goes down.

This is a recipe for financial troubles that can persist long after your divorce concludes if you are not careful. Money troubles may have caused your divorce, and those money troubles will not go away just because the divorce was finalized. Inputting your child into the middle of this can also be a potential problem.

How do courts set child support in Texas?

If children are half of the divorce equation, and money is the other half, then child support is the one subject that encapsulates both halves. The State of Texas has guidelines that provide child support percentages to be assessed against an obligor parent's net monthly income. Income means (basically) any money earned due to work performed- wages, tips, salaries, commission, bonuses, etc. One child before the court means that twenty percent of your net monthly income is to go towards child support. Two is 25% and so on until you can have at most fifty percent of your net monthly income utilized for child support purposes.

The goal of these child support formulas is to attempt to come close to what percentage of your income as an obligor parent would go towards your child's direct support. Of course, if your child were to need a pair of shoes for their basketball season or a new calculator for school, you probably would not bat an eye to paying for these items as well.

However, child support is intended as a bare minimum for you to pay for your child's support every month. If your child has special needs that require medical attention regularly, your child support obligation will likely be higher than the guideline levels we discussed earlier.

In what circumstances could below guidelines levels of child support be ordered?

The most frequently seen example that I can relate to has other children you are responsible for but are not presently before the court. There are reasons why a more petite than guideline level of child support could be ordered for you to pay. For example, suppose you have a child from a previous marriage that you pay child support for. In that case, a "credit" will be issued in your current child support calculation, meaning that you would only be obligated to pay 17.5% of your net monthly income rather than 20%.

Consider also an example that many parents run into in divorce negotiations. If you and your spouse can agree to actual 50/50 custody- meaning that you and your spouse share equally in the physical custody of your child, then there is more reason to agree on a superficial level of child support to be paid- or none at all. Suppose you and your spouse earn similar incomes. Another factor could lead to no child support obligation inputted into your divorce decree.

Keep in mind that if you are the parent who has visitation rights to your child, they will have extended periods of possession with you in the summer. You will still be obligated to pay child support to your ex-spouse during these periods. Nothing in the family code allows parents to avoid payments when their child is in their possession, other than if the primary conservator makes it known that they are allowing an unofficial change to occur in who determines the child's primary residence.

Child Support Enforcement and College Costs - tomorrow's blog post topics

If today's subject matter was of interest to you, we hope you will return to read about more subject matter related to child support. In the meantime, if you have questions regarding these subjects or any other in Texas family law, please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. We offer free of charge consultations with one of our licensed family law attorneys.

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Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC | Houston, Texas Child Custody Lawyers

The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, routinely handles matters that affect children and families. If you have questions regarding child custody, it's essential to speak with one of our Houston , TX, child custody lawyers right away to protect your rights.

Our child custody lawyers in Houston, TX, are skilled at listening to your goals during this trying process and developing a strategy to meet those goals. Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC by calling (281) 810-9760 or submit your contact information in our online form. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, handles child custody cases in Houston, Texas, Cypress, Klein, Humble, Kingwood, Tomball, The Woodlands, Houston, the FM 1960 area, or surrounding areas, including Harris County, Montgomery County, Liberty County, Chambers County, Galveston County, Brazoria County, Fort Bend County, and Waller County.