Are extra-curricular sports lessons included in base child support calculations?

[momof2b2g]

I am in Michigan and my fiance filed to have his child support modified because he has less income. To be exact 10 thousand less this year than when child support was originally calculated. Also, there daughter no longer attends daycare all day just after school care. She is saying that it should not be reduced because her costs are going up because there children play alot of sports.

Anyhow my question is are extra-curricular activities included when calculating child support? I would assume they are because Michigan uses a formula based on the average cost of raising a child then take the net incomes and make each parent responsible for there share to raise the child. So wouldn't that include extra-curricular activities?

[ocean]

No it does not. His child support should go down and then they can add activities. Most times you split activities 50/50 if both parents make about the same amount.
He can agree to lower the child support according to the guidelines and take off daycare BUT be prepared to ADD
-half of after care AND
-half of expenses

You can ask that you pay the daycare directly your half or mom has to give you receipt and you reimburse her.
You can ask that activities be a joint decision especially if it is on dad's parenting time. Any activities both agree will be split in half. Once again, you can pay your half to dance place, gymnastics, soccer....call them and make arrangements.

[momof2b2g]

Yes he will pay 63% of the current daycare which is fine. Yes he has them every weekend so he takes them to there practices and games. how do you go about making sure they both agree on the activities?

[ocean]

They will order it with the child support order...
He can ask to recalculate the child care portion...if he makes more than mother still then they may keep the 63% or make it 50/50. The order should separate daycare from activities but make sure it says father has final say on activities on fathers parenting time or mom may sign kid up for 10 things and try to make dad pay.
"activities will be split, dad paying x% and mom paying X%. Mother will keep father informed of all activities and give father telephone numbers to said activities. If parents do not agree, father will have final say on activities that fall on his parenting time".

Some people write "father will be responsible for up to 2 activities at a time".

Be careful with daycare...what about summer camps? Offer to have child instead... make the order, half of daycare for after-school care when mother is working.

[bloom6372]

I would also be sure to include a clause that if the parent's don't AGREE on an activity in writing, that the parent signing the child up shall be FULLY responsible for any and all fees associated with the activity. That way, she can't say "Well, he said the kids could do this, he should have to pay for part of it!".

[momof2b2g]

He actually was not made to pay for extracurricular activities. The court determined that those are included expenses for raising a child and that the child support formula covers all costs as if they were an intact family.

[ocean]

Did they lower the amount or did they say, stay at same rate and count extra activities?

[ninapook]

Well, wait, Michigan is one of those states that has a shared custody/income model. How much time did the children spend with their father prior to the latest evaluation?

If he was getting credit for spending time with the kids that he was not actively using, and the custodial parent was covering that time, whether those funds were put towards extracurricular activities or not, this sounds pretty fair to raise his obligation.

[gemini3]

Parenting time activities include taking your children to and from extracurricular activities.  It doesn't take that time out of that parents custodial time, regardless of who paid for the extracurricular.