What a Difference a Day Makes in Tennessee Child Support Calculations

When the time arrives to begin calculating child support, Memphis child support lawyers look to parenting time as an essential factor in determining “How much?” child support a party will be ordered to pay. Child support is determined, in part, by the number of days each parent spends with the child.

With Tennessee Child Support, What Difference Does a “Day” Make?

The “day” that we are talking about is tied to parenting time which, in turn, is tied to the parenting plan. One key to how much a party will be ordered to pay in child support lies in the residential time each parent will have with the child according to the parenting plan.

Tennessee Child Support | Parenting Time Affects Amount Owed

A single day of parenting time is defined in our Tennessee law as more than 12 consecutive hours in a 24-hour period. During that period, the child must be under the parent’s care, control, or direct supervision.

What makes child support calculations a little more challenging and what sometimes confuses parents is that the 24-hour period in the Tennessee statute does not necessarily correspond to a calendar day. For example, a single day for child support purposes might begin at 8:00 p.m. Saturday and end at 9:00 a.m. Sunday (that would be two calendar days, but only one child support day).

From the previous example, one could conclude that the child must stay overnight for the residential time to count as a day for child support calculations, but that isn’t so. The consecutive 12-hour-plus “day” of parenting time might just as easily begin during the daytime from 9:00 a.m. to midnight, for example, or some other combination as set out in the parenting plan.

Scheduling Parenting Time as Part of the Parenting Plan

As the terms primary residential parent and alternate residential parent indicate when there is unequal parenting time, it is the minor’s time with each parent along with both parties’ gross monthly income that make up the core calculations used to establish child support obligations.

This brings us to the parenting plan in which scheduled access to the child is set forth in detail. In developing their parenting plan, the parties determine the residential schedule for every holiday, vacation, weekday, and weekend.

Ask Our Memphis TN Child Support Lawyers

When you have questions about the payment of child support, look to Tennessee Child Support Law and Answers to FAQs. To get legal updates, news, analysis, and commentary, become a regular visitor of our Tennessee Family Law Blog (you’ll find an abundance of information under the Child Support category).

Do you need to speak with someone now about child support? Call us today at (901) 683-1850 and schedule a confidential consultation with a Memphis child support attorney. The Miles Mason Family Law Group can help you with all of your Tennessee support issues, including setting or modifying child support orders.