Re: joint custody and child support? darkrose: With distance and his active duty being a factor, I doubt the judge will allow split custody. He will likely be granted joint custody with some weird visitation rules. Remember, joint=shared parental responsibility, meaning he plays an active part in the child's life as a decision maker. :)
Re: joint custody and child support? tara: It depends where you live, whether physical placement (not just joint legal custody) is 50/50 and your relative salaries.
Legal custody, as others have said, refers to decision authority and not to parenting time.
If you live in WI, like I do, and you've got 50/50 placement and equal salaries, barring some wildly unequal other financial situations, there won't be child support (and likely no spousal support -- in WI, that's generally reserved for people who either dropped out of the workforce to raise children or who are disabled and unable to work). That's fair -- you both have the same potential for child-related expenses and the same income.
If one of you makes more than the other, there will be some child support paid, even if you have 50/50 placement. If it's not 50/50 but it's more than 25% for each party, there's a formula you can use to calculate obligations. Sometimes, the parent who has less time with the kid gets support because that parent makes a lot less money.
I should add: In theory, child support is gender-blind. Also, things like health care, day care, school expenses, etc. are usually separate from child support and can be split 50/50 or however else you decide or the court orders. (You probably already have an order to that effect.)
Good luck.
Re: joint custody and child support? eft: My ex and I are supposed to have joint legal and physical custody. Because of this, there is no child support involved. The thing is this. At first, I had our son Sunday through Thursday, and he Thursday through Sunday. He got mad at me and decided we would have no contact. SO.......he took it upon himself to switch it up a bit. He has decided that he will pick him up on Fridays after school and keep him until Sunday. I haven't said a word? What do I do? Well, nothing. At this point, I am just happy to have our son an extra day!
