As you know, the child support you receive not only helps you provide for your children, but also removes some of the weight from your shoulders. However, you may receive a great deal of unsolicited input on how to spend your child support, whether it comes from well-meaning family members and friends or from a critical ex-spouse. Understandably, you and other custodial parents in Florida may worry about whether the courts or your ex can monitor or mandate your child support spending.
Ordinarily, nobody has any say in how you spend child support, FindLaw explains. You might only need to worry about the court stepping in if there is reason to believe you are not meeting your children’s needs, which rarely happens. The purpose of child support is to take care of your children’s needs, and the law interprets this broadly.
Physical requirements
As you would expect, you can use your child support to help you keep a roof over your children’s heads, as well as keep them warm and fed. Therefore, you might spend a portion of your child support on rent, food and utilities. You can also use it on clothing, school supplies, medicine and doctor’s appointments.
Emotional needs
Every child deserves to have fun and to feel secure and loved. It is not unacceptable to spend child support on gifts, a meal at a restaurant, a night at the arcade or a vacation with your kids. You may also decide to put some of your child support in savings for an emergency or their future expenses, such as college tuition.
Your ex-spouse may not always agree on how you spend the child support he or she pays you. In fact, disagreements while co-parenting are common, unfortunately. However, you are allowed to use child support at your discretion for your children’s best interests.
