How should child support amounts be adjusted when parenting time is split?

When parenting time is split, it is essential to recognize that the amount of child support may need to be adjusted to reflect the time each parent spends with the child. The approach of determining the higher and lower payments and subtracting the lower one takes into account the financial responsibilities of each parent in relation to the custodial arrangement.

This method recognizes that if one parent has a higher income and the other a lower income, the parent with the higher income may pay more in child support. By subtracting the lower payment from the higher payment, it ensures that both parents are contributing fairly to the child's upbringing, given their respective financial situations and the amount of time they spend with the child. Additionally, this approach can help prevent situations where one parent might feel they are disproportionately supporting the child, thus promoting fairness in financial responsibilities according to the parenting time arrangement.

The other approaches may not adequately reflect the complexities involved in shared parenting arrangements. For example, simply splitting the total amount equally does not consider differences in income, which is significant in determining how much each parent should contribute. Reviewing each parent's income alone may not provide a complete picture of the support needs in a shared parenting context, and focusing solely on the child's additional needs does not adequately address the proportional financial responsibilities