These days, many parents share custody and parenting time of the children between them and agree to joint physical custody. Because New York utilizes a three-step application of the Child Support Guidelines formula, under the Child Support Standards Act (CSSA), parents who share custody must still "run the numbers" under the CSSA and designate a non-custodial parent, who pays support.
The key question is: Which parent can be said to have physical custody of the children for a majority of the time?
The parent said to have physical custody of the children the majority of the time is deemed the custodial parent for the purpose of calculating support. Where the parents' custodial arrangement splits the children's physical custody so that neither can be said to have physical custody of the children for a majority of the time, the parent having the greater income, determined after application of the three-step statutory formula of the CSSA, should be identified as the “non-custodial” and payor parent for the purpose of child support, regardless of the labels employed by the parties.If the application of the CSSA formula leads to an unjust and inappropriate result, the guidelines order of support may be modified upward or downward, using the “paragraph f factors" of DRL §240 1-b (f) and FCA §413(1)(f) . These factors are:
The financial resources of the parents
The child's special needs, if any
The standard of living the child would have had if living with both parents
The tax consequences to the parents
The non-monetary contributions made by each parent
The educational needs of either parent
The discrepancy between the incomes of the parents
The needs of other children for whom the non-custodial parent is responsible
Any extraordinary expenses involved in visitation of the child
Any other factor the court may consider important.
The parties often deviate from the guidelines support in Stipulations and Agreements using these deviation factors.
The present state of the law can prompt the parties to fight over who gets more parenting time. However, the CSSA allows the parties to make their own agreements, as long as they use the CSSA methodology and formulas, make the appropriate calculations and recitations, utilize the factors for deviation, and the children are adequately provided within for. Most importantly, the designation as non-custodial parent for support purposes only does not confer superior rights to custody or parenting time.