Child support is the financial obligation that a parent owes to his or her child’s custodial parent for the support of their children. Although every individual family’s situation is unique, child support is usually paid by a father who does not live with and directly care for his children. In many instances, a mother may be required to provide child support when it is she who does not have legal custody of her child or children. Sometimes both parents may pay child support to another person when neither of them have legal custody.

Child support is monetary compensation or assistance to the primary caregiver for the welfare of the child. It is designed to meet the needs and cost of living in society by assisting with food, clothing, health care, entertainment, education and other expenses for the child. Child support can be paid voluntarily by the parent or court mandated.

Many countries around the world believe that it is the responsibility of both biological parents to provide child support for the well being of their children. This is especially true in the western half of the world, where divorce rates tend to be higher. The amount of money that parents are required to pay is a percentage that is usually based on one of two principals: the cost of raising a child or the gross income of the non custodial parent. In the United States, individual state laws differ on how the amount of child support payments are calculated.

Child support is normally paid by a parent until the child or children reach 21 years of age. However, varying laws and specific agreements made between parents might extend or decrease this age. For example, an agreement may be made or mandated at the time of parental separation that child support will be paid by the non custodial parent until the child graduates from college.

Base child support may also be accompanied by additional expenses that the parent must pay. Sometimes, it may be required that half of all medical, child care or educational expenses are supplied by the non custodial parent. In other cases, the child support paid by the parent is expected to be sufficient to meet one parent’s obligation for all his or her child’s needs.