South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 114 - DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES › Article 47 - CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES › Section 114-4730 - Unusual Custody Arrangements

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
A.
			 Shared Parenting Arrangements
When both parents are deemed fit, and other relevant logistical
				circumstances apply, active participation in the life of the child(ren) by the
				parent without custody should be encouraged in order to ensure the maximum
				involvement by both parents in the life of the child(ren). The amount of
				visitation, however, is left to the discretion of the judge in consideration of
				the various factors of the Children's Code, as is the use of the calculation on
				Worksheet C. The court should consider each case individually before applying
				the adjustment to ensure that it does not produce a substantial negative effect
				on the child(ren)'s standard of living.
For the purpose of this section, shared physical custody means
				that each parent has court-ordered visitation with the children overnight for
				more than 109 overnights each year (30%) and that both parents contribute to
				the expenses of the child(ren) in addition to the payment of child
				support.
If a parent with shared physical custody does not exercise it
				as ordered by the court, the parent to whom support is owed may petition the
				court for a reversion to the level of support calculated under the guidelines
				without the shared parenting adjustment. The shared physical custody adjustment
				is an annual adjustment only and should not be used when the proportion of
				overnights exceeds 30% for a shorter period, e.g., a month. For example, child
				support is not abated during a month-long summer visitation. This adjustment
				should be applied without regard to legal custody of the child(ren). Legal
				custody refers to decision-making authority with respect to the child(ren). If
				the 109 overnights threshold is reached for shared physical custody, this
				adjustment may be applied even if one parent has sole legal custody.
1. Child support for cases with shared
			 physical custody shall be calculated using Worksheet C. This worksheet should
			 be used only for shared physical custody as defined above.
2. The basic child support obligation shall
			 be multiplied by 1.5 to arrive at a shared custody basic child support
			 obligation. The shared custody basic child support obligation is apportioned to
			 each parent according to his or her income. In turn, a child support obligation
			 is computed for each parent by multiplying that parent's portion of the shared
			 custody child support obligation by the percentage of time the child(ren)
			 spend(s) with that parent. The respective basic child support obligations are
			 then offset, with the parent owing more basic child support paying the
			 difference between the two amounts, subject to the provisions below. The
			 transfer for the basic obligation for the parent owing less basic child support
			 shall be set at zero dollars.
3. If
			 a parent has more than 109 overnights but less than 128 overnights, a graduated
			 support obligation should be determined. The graduated support obligation
			 reflects a transition between the full shared-physical custody obligation and
			 the sole custody obligation, thus requiring the completion of both Worksheet A
			 and Worksheet C. The sole custody amount is calculated from Worksheet A and the
			 full shared-physical custody order is calculated from Worksheet C. The
			 graduated support obligation is determined by subtracting an amount from the
			 Worksheet A obligation. This amount is the difference between the worksheet A
			 and worksheet C values, multiplied by the number of overnights more than 109
			 divided by the difference between 128 and 110 overnights. If positive, the
			 graduated support obligation would then be treated as the basic child support
			 obligation for that parent. Otherwise, it would be treated as the basic child
			 support obligation for the other parent.
4. Adjustments for each parent's additional
			 direct expenses on the child(ren) are made by adding child(ren)'s share of any
			 reimbursed child health care expenses, work-related child care expenses and any
			 other extraordinary expenses agreed to by the parents or ordered by the
			 tribunal, less any extraordinary credits agreed to by the parent or ordered by
			 the tribunal according to their income share. In turn, each parent's net share
			 of additional direct expenses is determined by subtracting the parent's actual
			 direct expenses on the child(ren)'s share of any unreimbursed child health care
			 expenses, work-related child care expenses and any other extraordinary expenses
			 agreed to by the parents or ordered by the tribunal from their share. The
			 parent with a positive net share of additional direct expenses owes the other
			 parent the amount of his or her net share of additional direct expenses. The
			 parent with the zero or a negative net share of additional expenses owes zero
			 dollars for additional direct expenses.
5. The final amount of the child support
			 order is determined by summing what each parent owes for the basic support
			 obligation and additional direct expenses as defined in subsections (2), (3)
			 and (4) of this section. The respective sums are then offset, with the parent
			 owing more paying the other parent the difference between the two
			 amounts.