THis is for consistent parents. Not the low life Mothers or Fathers that skip out from paying.

Actual parents that pay every month, spend time with their child(ren), and always do the right thing.

What do you think is fair for a monthly payment on standard living when the other parent also pays half of all expenses and buys their own clothes for the child?

Please justify the expense

personally I think if the other is paying for half of the child's care and needs...then I wouldn't expect more....but that's just me

Have no clue. I have my son and haven't gotten any amount of child support from him. However, I do think that there needs to be some fair figure calculated by both incomes and parenting time.

..i wouldnt know havent received a penny from my son's mom in seven years....

Per the automated calculations by the State of Michigan.
One third of my income less the difference it costs me to have them on my health and dental insurance plans.
I also pay %65 of co-pays,deductibles, other heath care expenses not covered by insurance.

This is automatically deducted from my paycheck and paid to the State of Michigan, which in turn deposits the money in the ex's checking account.

No arguments about how much I owe, if its late it's not my issue.
I find it to be fair enough.

In this state, it is 24% of the gross income for the first child, 48% if there are two...and same as the last poster, it comes right out of your paycheck as soon as there is a judgment ordering it at all. Granted, some people, like my ex, work under the table and pay nothing.

I'm not sure what it is for Missouri. I do know that the law requires the non-custodial parent to have health insurance on the child.

As long as my Ex is working, I get paid twice a month when he gets paid, it comes out auto. and put into my checking account.

He has to have you keep insurance on them, I have medical he has dental and vision. He has to pay 50% of uncovered medical.

He got the amount of support reduced by having saying he was going to have the kids about 113 overnights per year. That hasn't happened.
But the amount he pays is less because of that.

It is based on some crazy formual the state of MI has.

I think the amount should be somewhat based on the age of the kids, but it is not.

Well let's see from my first serious relationship I pay $189.00 every two weeks plus medical insurance and cannot see my daughter. Her grandmother has custody of her a few states away from me and I am not allowed to see or talk to my daughter unless it is ok with the grandmother and well I don't even know where they live or have a phone number to make contact. On the other had my daughters mother pays nothing in support. Now I have custody of my son from my ex wife and since she gets state assistance I get no child support from her. Pretty fair, right?

Not at all...The whole system is a complete joke and no where near fair at all

I am an odd case, in that I am the one paying support. We have joint custody, but when I moved to take my job, we decided it was best for her to stay there for now. I pay almost $900/mo child support, and I don't begrudge it to her at all. I know he's truly using it to care for her, not running around spending it on bs...he puts the extra into a college fund for her.

So, maybe I'm just one of the rare cases, but I don't mind the expense.

during my divorce....I came down in child support because i thought it was too much IMO. plus his dad does many things extra for my son so it didn't bother me. when he turned 17...my son wanted to split the time...so i did away with the child support. it seemed only fair

My ex did the same thing...my state (well, the one I lived in) bases it on percentage of income, and when we calculated it, he said that was too much, and we brought it down. Because we agreed on a set amount, it doesn't fluctuate based on my income.

that's what we did. I didn't need that much and I had my own money and my ex had his. my son never went without. hell...i didn't even take half his 401K or stocks because I felt those were his. but we get along great...just can't be married lol

oops

Good to see I'm not the only one! I get along great with my ex and his wife....we make wonderful friends, we were just horrible spouses, lol.

I dont have court ordered support- he just pays a set amount every month- i have the insurance and take care of all expenses- basically that money is just there for emergencies.

i receive a hundred per week, when he's paying. this is for his two children. he's supposed to keep them on insurance and pay half of uncovered expenses, but that has never happened.

i'm not sure what an appropriate amount would be. i know i make less than half of the money i made when i was married, as i have to work only while they are in school now and must take a set day off during the week for all their medical care.

i also know that his money has improved quite a bit since he no longer has any responsibilities at home. he's since improved his license and opened his own contractor's business. i've not ever requested that support payments be increased, as i really don't care.

i get the pleasure of tucking my children in in the evenings. i might buy the musical instruments, but i get to see the concerts, the light in their eyes when their school places first. i'm the one sitting next to them at the movies or running with them flying kites.

i'm enjoying dinner and cuddling at night. i'm the shoulder they turn to...and that's worth more than a dollar amount.

do i wish he paid more? well, yeah...cause then i could maybe do more with them. maybe gymnastics or martial arts. buy more books instead of borrow. actually take them on a vacation, that sort of thing...but that's all just gravy.

i will NEVER itemize what i spend my child support on. never. i'm not reducing our lives to a dollar amount and a spot on an invoice. no amount he pays could cover that i had to give up my career to be here...nor the benefits i've received from doing just that.

bro i have my kids more then half she gets 2000 a month plus ask for more i had to give her an extra 200 yesterday

My son's father was court ordered to pay $61 a week when he was 6 months old. He's now 10 an his father owes $20,700 in back support. He hasn't seen him in over 8 yrs. He lived not an hour an half away an never attempted to see him once or contact him in any way. I'm the one that provides for all my son's needs, I'm the one that makes all the decisions concernin education, medical, etc. I'm also the one that Tyler comes to when he wants to brag about something great he's done, when he needs a hug or words of encouragement. I'm the one who's there for him. He's come to an age where he knows an understands this. He wants nothing to do with his father an he's made that well known to me an anyone else that asks.
In a perfect world both parents would provide equally for the child(ren). Both would be there for the child(ren) financially an emotionally. Unfortuanately, we don't live in a perfect world. The child support system isn't perfect an never will be. It's suppose to help the custodial parent an make sure that the non-custodial parent takes responsibility. However, it doesn't always work that way an the one who truly suffers for it in the long run is the child(ren).