Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Child support

How to proceed in setting up child support. Can this be done without an attorney. I'm the dad- I pay daycare, child is on health insurance. I keep the child every week and several days during the week. I pick the child up everyday from day care- I don't want any legal problems since the support I give is not legally documented- the Mom is becoming difficult- she is a college graduate and used to teach- has not worked since May 08.


Asked on 1/27/09, 11:31 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Sher Wagshal and Sher

Re: Child support

You should keep a good record of the amounts you are paying for daycare and the child's insurance coverage. In MD, each parent has a duty to support his/her child, and there are statutory guidelines which set the amount of support, based on the parents' incomes. If the child is spending at least 35% of the nights with each parent, it's considered a shared custody situation. After dertermining the basic support from the guidelines, amounts paid for day care and uninsured medical expenses are added on. You would be well advised to have an experienced family attorney draw up a comprehensive agreement that will hopefully forestall the mom from filing a court petition for support, which would be a lot more expensive in the long run.

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Answered on 1/27/09, 11:51 am


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