Child Support:
What is child support supposed to cover? Child support covers food, shelter, and clothing for the child or children during the recipient parent’s custodial time. Other expenses that may be incurred if the parties have a child or children but aren’t always incurred, could be uncovered medical/dental/vision/etc. expenses, daycare expenses, extracurricular expenses, and schooling (present costs/private school/college education). These expenses should be addressed separate from the child support payment.
Holiday Schedules:
Holiday schedules are not required by the court with a case involving a child or children, but would highly recommend thinking about having one. It’s a great way to preemptively have a discussion with your spouse about what you each would like to do for each holiday your family celebrates before problems arise. Plus it allows you to have at least a “template schedule” that could include the language “unless mutually agreed otherwise by the parties.” This allows you to make changes to the schedule that are mutually agreed upon by the two of you when the need may arise, without your being in violation of a court order.