Child Custody and Support

The experienced family law and divorce attorneys at Woodruff Family Law Group here in Guilford County recognize that the most emotional and difficult area of family law is child custody and support. This is an area where all of the parties involved also generally are the most emotionally invested in the outcome. Many of you may easily settle the best interests of your children, but some cannot. In contested custody, this level of emotional investment makes a disinterested, detached decision by the parties almost impossible. This, of course, makes sense. After several years in a relationship, married or not, having a child together makes a later split extremely difficult – emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Courts focus on making a determination of what is in the best interests of the child. This is the overarching concern and is the most important factor to be considered. Both parents likely want to see their child as much as physically possible. However, there is only so much time in the day and there is only so much disruption that a child, especially a young child, can handle. This is where the best interests of the child comes in.

One parent may want to have physical custody of the child every other day, in order to spend as much time with them as possible. This type of schedule, however, may or may not be good for the child’s adjustment or development, especially if this is a young child. The court must make a determination of what type of custody schedule is in the best interests of the child, unless the two parties can agree to a custody arrangement themselves.

This is where an experienced attorney can help negotiate with the other side and come up with creative solutions designed specifically for your situation. If you are interested in learning more about any of the services we offer under the umbrella of child custody and support, click on the appropriate link below for more information. Contact us today to set up an initial consultation.

So let’s talk a little bit about custody and child support for high income or high net worth individuals. Appropriate to this topic is the 2016 case Price v. Price, from the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Price is about a Mother and a Father who scorched the earth in Charlotte related to their children from Providence Day School (PDS). The case has been remanded (sent back) over several issue, but the guts of the case is very interesting. The Father made an exceptional income of $500,000 working for the CPA firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. Father is likely to make more in the future, according to the opinion.

The Mother had an inheritance, and the Mother had paid two years of private school from a UTMA account that belonged to the children. Mother had inherited from her deceased Father 1.25 million dollars, and that was one issue the Court of Appeals said that the trial court had to review again.

Interestingly, the Father was required to pay his pro rata percentage of private school even though he protested. In fact, in a companion case, the contempt ruling of the Father for failing to pay while the case was on appeal was affirmed by the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

The children had been attending PDS and the children’s accustomed standard of living was a paramount concern for the court. Price provides great information on private school for those you who are interested (or not interested by the way) in your children attending private school after divorce.