My husband and his daughter's mother are in the process of determining permanent custody. The judge allowed his daughter to attend school in her mother's district until the September custody hearing. My husband feels his daughter will adjust better to Kindergarten (she had lots of problems in preschool) if she was with one parent full-time. Since her mother would never agree to giving full custody to him, he is going to give it to her. Now she is protesting the child support. I have two questions.

First, he is providing the health insurance. The premium is the same no matter how many children are on the policy. Her attorney is trying to split the premium in half because our son is covered as well. He has a letter from his employer stating that the premium is the same but her attorney just doesn't seem to realize it. Is there any case law that supports that he can claim the entire premium?

Second, the school is year round which means his daughter needs supervision for 3 weeks out of every 12 weeks. We know her mother is going to try to claim daycare which is nothing more than her older daughter, 14, watching her. Even though she may be able to prove payments right now, there is little guarantee that she will continue it for even one day. What are our rights on this matter? Is there any case law?

I am assuming this is a joint custody situation.

When you go to court, provide the paperwork that there is no premium for the mother to pay and t he father is paying for medical insurance, so the mother does not need to contest that matter.
Ask for custody of the child during school breaks since Mom has her fulltime and there is a close relationship with Dad and family. I think the court will agree since he is allowing Mom to have her full time to aid her in better adjusting to kindergarten. And make that fact known to the court. This will make the arrangement closer to true joint custody. Also ask the court, if you want, for proration of support to 50% of what is usually paid during the school break periods should you get the child during school breaks.

I think all parties should be able to come to an agreement without the cour on this stuff, but you should be able to win on all points.

I live in North Carolina, and I know that if the mother tries to get daycare added she most prove that she has them in a licensee day care, not her 14 year old watching the child. Hope this helps some.

That's comforting. I'm also concerned about the neighbor (who recently had her child abducted) watching her. Great comfort knowing they have to be licensed.