Finances play a large role in divorce. Divorcing spouses must divide their marital assets, and each party must become accustomed to living off one income again. It is also no secret that finances can be the root of many disputes between parents both during and after a divorce.

Parents can actively manage their money and avoid disputes post-divorce if they establish a financial plan within their parenting plan.

Even if one parent has an obligation to pay child support, it is still critical to address both parents’ financial responsibilities in their parenting plan if they wish to move forward with co-parenting their children after a divorce.

What expenses should parents consider in their parenting plan?

In a co-parenting arrangement, Kentucky parents must create a parenting plan devising how they will divide parenting responsibilities, share parenting time and raise their children in two separate homes. An effective parenting plan should also include a strategy for how parents will divide parenting expenses.

For example, parents should consider:

• How they will cover childcare costs;
• How they will pay for the child’s educational needs; and
• How they will divide expenses for the child’s healthcare needs.

Parents must address these larger expenses involved in the child’s life together. After all, if they must make decisions regarding these matters together, then they should also decide how to pay for them together.

Track everyday expenses too

It is common for parents to divide expenses with their parenting time – that is, each parent covers any expenses for their child when the child stays with them.

This might seem like a fair arrangement, but parents should still:

1. Communicate about their finances and average expenses during their parenting time;
2. Track their receipts and share them with each other; and
3. Establish a comprehensive, yet flexible, budget for parenting expenses and adjust the plan to their child’s changing needs.

This helps to ensure parents fairly divide parenting expenses.