A “Custodial Parent” is regarded as the parent who has primary care of the child (i.e., with whom the child lives for the significant majority of time).
A “Non-Custodial Parent”, conversely, is the parent who does not have principal caring responsibility for the child but may otherwise spend time with the child.
The non-custodial parent is generally required to pay child support to the other parent, subject to the parties’ respective incomes.
The Child Support Agency’s (now called Department of Human Services, Child Support or “DHS”) calculations are based on the number of overnight stays the child has with each parent over (for example) every fortnight or month.