If you are a noncustodial parent here in North Carolina who is being forced to make child support payments, you may have questions about your legal obligation. One question that often gets asked is what your child support payments are being used to cover. For many noncustodial parents, the answer to this question may remain allusive. For others, it might even be a little confusing. That's why, in today's post, we want to take a look at this question and perhaps clear up some confusion on the matter. What do child support payments cover in North Carolina? Most people assume that child support payments only cover food, clothing and other basic necessities. But according to the North Carolina Division of Social Services, child support payments must also cover other needs such as: medical care, transportation, shelter and educational needs. This means, depending on how the court decides, a noncustodial parent may be required to provide medical insurance for their dependants, cover … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2015
Tragic case shows custody challenges when both parents die
Frequent readers of our blog know that in most cases, when we are talking about child custody issues, we are looking at disputes involving a child's biological parents. As most people can imagine, these types of disputes are very common here in North Carolina and across the nation. But as some of our Raleigh readers know, these aren't the only types of custody disputes that can occur in our state and country. Take for example a recent child custody case that occurred to our west in Lexington. The courts in this case needed to tackle a difficult third-party dispute between the children's stepmother, who lives here in the U.S., and their aunt and uncle, who live in Ireland. Because both of the children's parents had died, the courts needed to establish custody, dealing with both domestic and international custody laws in the process. Based on North Carolina custody laws, the children's stepmother did have the right to seek custody after their mother and father had passed away. But … [Read more...]
