VIRGINIA Part 90

Split custody arrangements divide multiple children between the parents. So, dad has custody of the older child and mom has custody of the younger one, for example. In those cases you do the same calculation as for sole custody, arriving at each parent’s proportionate share. There, however, you take the difference in the amounts. So for two children, if the total amount of child support is $304 (that’s two children at combined income of $1,000), and the parents are responsible for $122 and $182 (that’s 40% and 60%, respectively), payments will be $60 ($182-$122=$60) made by the parent with the greater income.

Shared custody arrangements are where a parent has custody or visitation of a child for more than 90 days of the year. Here, the amount of support is based on the ratio in which the parents share the custody and visitation of any child. So if you have the child 274 days (or 75% of the time), you could be responsible for 75% of the child support. There’s a catch, however. If you have a majority of time with the child but less income than the other parent, then you can request to use the sole custody calculation instead.