Can I Get Child Support if the Other Parent & I Share Custody in California?

Only a California court can issue a child custody order.

California's child custody and child support laws are commonly used together. Whether parents share custody of the child or not is just one factor that must be taken into account when determining child support. These laws often require the expertise of an attorney to apply to your case, so talk to a lawyer if you need help with a California child custody case.

Court Responsibility

A California court's primary responsibility in all child custody and support cases is to determine what is in the child's best interests. This means the court will only make orders that protect the child's health and well being. The court looks at each case individually and weighs a child's best interests based on several factors. In general, if parents agree to child custody terms on their own, the court will accept these terms unless they clearly go against the child's best interests.

Legal and Physical Custody

California courts divide child custody into two types: legal and physical. When granted legal custody, a parent has the right to make decisions about the child's life, such a what kind of health care treatments the child receives and where the child goes to school. Physical custody is the right to have the child live with the parent in the parent's home.

Joint Custody

California courts can award joint custody, and generally prefer to do so unless the situation calls for another kind of order. Joint custody means that both parents have legal and physical custody and must cooperate to ensure the child's needs are met. How much time each parent has with the child is up to the parents and the court to decide.

Custody and Support

In general, the parent who has the child the majority of the time, or who earns less than the other spouse, will receive child support payments from the other. The child support calculations used in California take into consideration how much money each parent earns. Once a parent's income is determined, each parent's child support responsibility is determined proportional to the amount of time the parent has custody over the child, and the parent with the lesser obligation has to pay the other parent the difference.

References

• California Department of Child Services: General FAQs
• Kinsley Law Offices: General California Child Custody Guidelines
• California Department of Child Services: Welcome to the Guideline Calculator