Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Child Support Question

I will explain my situation the best I can and if you can provide an answer or some direction I would greatly appreciate it.

I have been divorced for several years and paying child support. My custody agreement is shared legal and shared physical custody.

Our visitation arrangements are as follows:

MONDAY, TUESDAY with mother. WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY with Father and we alternate FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. This gives an exact 50-50 split in custody.

My daughter is going to be 14 in June. In January this year after dealing with some attitude and personal issues, my daughter expressed her desire to live exclusively with her mother and she has been since that time. At this time there are no overnight stays at my home. This was a decision she had made and I agreed with to possibly cause less confusion in her life.

My ex-wife is taking me back to court for a child support modification. My question is since the custody order was never modified, will they still use the reduction for overnight visitation when calculating my child support obligation? Or since there are now no overnight stays, will they no longer reduce what is owed. Or do they have to go by what the court order for visitation states?

Thank you


Asked on 3/12/06, 4:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Paul Stacom Law Office of Paul J. Stacom

Re: Child Support Question

The court usually looks at the reality of the situation as to the actual custody arrangement. If you do not have at least 40% of the overnights, the court will calculate the support based on the mother essentially having primary custody of the child. You may want to have counsel present to make sure they calculate everything correctly.

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Answered on 3/12/06, 6:09 pm


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