A lot of questions come up when you are thinking about child support. One question that people paying the support usually ask is where the money is going. Some people falsely think that custodial parents are frivolous with child support money. This is usually very far from the truth.
Child support is meant to be used to get children life’s necessities and some wants if there is money after the necessities are paid. Parents who receive child support can use the money to pay the rent or mortgage, utility bills and other similar expenses. Food and extracurricular activities are also possible uses for child support money.
Even if a custodial parent seems to be using the money on him or herself, that likely isn’t the case. As much as you might want to demand that the other parent accounts for where every penny of support goes, you can’t do that.
In most cases, unless the children are neglected, you don’t have any say in how the money is used. If you do think that the children are being neglected, you will probably need to head to court to address the matter.
One thing that many parents don’t realize is that it might be possible allocate where a certain percentage of child support goes. For example, you and your ex might decide that 10 percent of the money goes into a college fund for the child. If you do work something like this out, make sure that it is put into a written agreement between you and the other parent. This can help you to enforce the terms if necessary.
Source: The Huffington Post, “A Quick Child Support Tip,” Al Corona, accessed Dec. 07, 2017
