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Track child support and shared kids' costs

Between co-parents, two kinds of money move at once: the support one parent owes the other every month, and the child's costs that both share. Keeping both in your head always ends in an argument about who fronted what.

What WeSplit does, and what it does not

What it does: track the money moving between the two parents. The support paid each month, the costs one parent fronts for the child, and the balance that follows. The full history exports to a spreadsheet at any time.

What it does not do: the law. WeSplit calculates no guideline amount, drafts no agreement, and replaces neither a settlement between parents nor a court order. How much support is owed, and when it is reviewed, is decided elsewhere — the app only keeps the books once the amount is known.

Why support is not split in half

This is the mistake that quietly throws everything off. A shared expense is a purchase several people benefit from: you divide it. Support is not that — it buys nothing in particular, it settles an imbalance between two households.

Entered as a $500 shared expense, it would put $250 on each parent: the paying one would appear to owe half of what they actually owe. The gap widens every month and nothing flags it.

In a Child support group it is recorded as a debt from one parent to the other. The full reasoning, with the math written out, is in our guide to shared kids' expenses.

One month, worked out

Thomas owes Claire $500 in support. In October he also paid $200 for school lunches, a cost both parents share equally.

• October support: Thomas owes $500
• Lunches fronted by Thomas: Claire owes him $100
• Left to pay: $400

Without this, two mistakes keep repeating: sending $500 and never claiming the $100 back, or sending $300 by deducting the whole lunch bill — when half of it was his to carry anyway.

By income, not necessarily down the middle

Children's costs are often shared in proportion to income. A 60/40 split is entered as shares: 6 against 4. The $200 lunch bill then becomes $120 and $80.

Across a year of lunches, activities and supplies, the difference between an even split and a proportional one runs into the hundreds. Better to make it explicit.

The child does not belong in the group

A common question, and the answer avoids a bookkeeping error: no. The members of a group are the people the money is split between, not the people it is spent on.

So a parent handing over a $50 allowance records a $50 expense, paid by them, split between the two parents. The child appears nowhere, and the math is right.

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