Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Excess Day Care Costs included in Child Support

The Maryland child support guidelines require each parent to pay a part of work-related child care expenses, pro-rated in the same way as the basic child support obligation. In most cases the law requires he payments to be based on the family's actual costs of child care, not on community averages or typical costs. The court may order that the child support in a particular case should not be based on "actual family experience," if it is found to be not in the best interest of the chlld. This could be for a variety of reasons: the actual family experience might be an overly expensive child care facility which is simply beyond the means of the parent (it is not in the best interest of the child to have a parent driven to financial ruin through payment of exorbitant and unnecessary charges), or it might be a very low cost child care service provided by an incompetent. A particular child may require care more costly than the average because of a health condition or a "special need."

If you think the custodial parent has arranged for child care that is unnecessarily high in cost, the first thing you should do is try to find out why, ideally by talking to the parent. If there is no apparent reason, or if the custodial parent is paying a friend or relative exorbitant charges which you cannot afford, or if you think there may be a fraudulent kick-back arrangement between the custodial parent and the child-care provider, you might want to challenge the child care cost in court.

Clearly the possible reasons for above average child care are countless, some reasonable and some unreasonable. Before you run off to court, I would suggest you discuss the particular situation with a lawyer.