Legal Question in Family Law in California

Jackson Credits refer to credit the court may, in its discretion, give to the payer of child support in the event the payer had substantially more custodial time/responsibility for the child(ren) than if the parties had followed the custody order that the support order was based on. So for example, mom gets a custody order that the kids live with her on days that add up to 75% of the time. Based on that dad is ordered to pay child support of a certain amount (percentage of custodial time being one of the main factors in calculating child support). Then mom gets a temporary work assignment that requires her to spend three weeks at a time at the employer's facility in Singapore. So the mom and dad informally agree that the kids will stay with dad while mom is away. Dad then stops paying child support while mom is on assignment. Dept. of Child support services initiated collection of arrears proceedings against dad. Dad would then claim Jackson Credits against the arrearages because instead of paying cash, he was providing 75% direct support of the kids.