After divorce, you may be required to share expenses concerning your children. Normally, one parent will get primary custody of the children and the non-custodial spouse will be required to pay child support to the custodial spouse to cover expenses such as food and shelter. While child support can often cover these needs adequately, it is not necessarily capable of covering the rest of a child's needs.

Because of this, there may be some expenses that must be "shared." These are costs that may be split right down the middle, so that both parents are contributing. There are a variety of different costs that are considered shared post-divorce. For example, if a child gets sick, parents may need to share the cost of the medical bills. Normally in divorce settlements, one parent will cover the costs of medical insurance, and the other parent agrees to pay all co-payments and deductibles associated with the costs of the divorce.

Yet if a child comes down with a very expensive illness that results in very high medical bills, the court may mandate that this is a shared expense. Also, if the illness requires long-term treatments or medications that cost money, then the courts may require that these are shared.

Also, you may be required to split expenses with your spouse that has to do with extracurricular activities. These are all activities that your child participates in aside from school. Sometimes the extracurricular activity may cost money per session, such as with ballet lessons or piano lessons. In other cases, you will simply be required to pay for the equipment for the activity, such as jerseys and athletic shoes for basketball or athletic equipment and pads for football.

If you choose to send your child to a private school, then you may also be required to pay this tuition as a shared expense. This means that both parents will be required for paying out part of the cost to allow the child to attend the private institution. In the future, some parents agree that they will also pay for their child's college education as a shared expense. This is not a required cost, and parents can negotiate this on their own or with the help of an attorney.

Parents may also be required to pay for travel expenses as a shared expense, depending on the nature of the travel. A parent that is awarded visitation may be required for paying the costs to get the child to his or her home and then back. Some attorneys suggest creating a spreadsheet for all shared expenses in order to keep track of all of the costs and avoid arguments in the future. Divorced adults should make sure to write down all payments that they make or receive and note any payments that are due to be paid.

If you want more information about shared expenses, you may need to negotiate with an attorney. For example, if your child is involved in a very expensive sport and you do not support the sport, but your spouse does and is asking you to make this a shared expense, you may need to go to court over this issue.

Also, if you want to negotiate who gives the child money then you will want to seek compensation from the firm right away. With the right lawyer on your side, you should be able to work through any arguments that you have with an attorney on your side. You will also be able to determine which costs should be paid out of child support and which costs should be paid as shared expenses.