92% of parents who are involved pay child support. Are you involved? Do you pay? Do you want to be an involved parent? Do you wish your ex was involved? Here are the top 5 ways to keep each other involved, informed and accountable.
1. Keep the other parent involved even when they can’t afford to pay
Let’s be realistic here, nobody wants to be nice to their ex when they don’t pay up. But for the sake of your children, keep it nice. Even if they can’t afford a payment, keep them in the know so that they see what is happening. With SupportPay, they can see what payments are made, and what they are behind on. Leave the reminders and the nagging to SupportPay, and you don’t have to say a thing.
2. Negotiate for the best interest of your child.
When dealing with money decisions, everyone seems to struggle. We can tend to be a little selfish sometimes, wanting to use the funds for what we think is best. But make sure you are keeping the best interests of your child in mind when making those financial choices. Do they really need that extra toy, game, or pair of shoes? Or would they benefit more from a quality time activity with you or your spouse? Maybe an outing with one of the parents a better way to spend the funds.
3. Don’t alienate or cut off contact between parent and children.
The moment you decide to stop communicating or choose to hide something, can be the moment the relationship begins to break down. Or when you decide to keep your child from seeing your ex, this can cause a huge divide between you and your child. This can create a very vicious cycle. Keep the lines of communication open and as long as you know your child is safe, make the best of the situation.
4. Remind yourself and the other parent what the support is for.
Your goal in all of this, is not to steal money from your ex. It is to provide financially for the needs of the child. The sooner both parties can grasp that, the sooner things will be easier to enforce. SupportPay makes it easy for each party to see what needs to be paid, when and for what purpose.
5. Keep the child’s needs first.
How can you and your spouse work together to meet the needs of your child? SupportPay is your answer! Once the finances are organized, you can focus on raising happy, healthy kids.