One part of the child support calculation is the number of parenting time days the non-custodial parent has in a year. That parent receives a percentage deduction in his/her obligation based on that number. Therefore, it is important to know how to calculate the number of days correctly. There are many lawyers who do not do this properly and it leads to an incorrect child support figure.
Here is a link to the child support guidelines and calculator. If this is the first time you are establishing child support you need to use the 2011 child support guidelines. If you have an existing order but need or want to modify the amount you need to read the 2011 guidelines to determine if they or the 2005 guidelines apply instead. http://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw/Home.aspx
The first thing to do is to calculate how many hours of regular parenting time the non-custodial parent has in a two week period. I say two weeks because typically parents have a consistent mid-week schedule and alternate the weekends, making the schedule repeat every two weeks rather than every week. Yours may repeat more or less frequently. It will be important to know how frequently it repeats so figure that out also. The guidelines assign fractions of days or a full day to each scheduled block of parenting time based on the number of hours a visit lasts. Determine how much each block of parenting time in the week or multiple weeks amounts to based on the guidelines. You should have a round number of something ending in .25, .5 or .75.
Once you have this number you need to calculate how much time this amounts to over the course of a year, which has 52 weeks. You cannot just multiply by 52 weeks if your regular parenting time schedule repeats every two or more weeks or if you have a vacation schedule that gives each of you a week or two or three etc of uninterrupted parenting time.
To factor in vacation parenting time you first subtract the total number of vacation weeks from 52 weeks per year, (i.e. 2 weeks for the custodial parent + 2 weeks for the non-custodial parent = 4 total weeks of vacation, then 52 total weeks - 4 weeks vacation parenting time = 48 weeks of regular parenting time.) Once you know how many weeks of the year regular parenting time occurs, you need to divide it by the number of weeks that pass in your regular parenting time schedule before it repeats. As I said above, it is typically a two week repeating schedule. Thus, in this example with 48 weeks of regular parenting time, you would divide 48 by 2, giving you 24. Finally, multiply 24 times the number of hours the non-custodial parent has for parenting time. This is the number of regular parenting time hours.
Once you have the total number of regular parenting time numbers in a year, you need to add to it the number of days of vacation parenting time he/she has. If each parent has two weeks of vacation parenting time then you would add 14 parenting time days to your total.
As for holidays, if you are on a rotating schedule where in odd years the custodial parent has a certain set of holidays and the non-custodial another set and then in even years it flips exactly, you do not factor in holidays to your calculation. The reason is that over time the holiday parenting time equalizes itself.
And remember...
While you may find helpful insights or bits of information in this blog as it progresses, keep in mind that this is only being provided as general information to help you and others get started in this process. My first and best advice is to consult a lawyer knowledgeable in the area of family law. This is the only way to truly obtain advice directly pertinent to your situation. I am available for consultation by calling (928) 458-5026 to schedule an appointment.
