In Utah, the answer is: it’s likely that Mom will pay child support to Dad. Generally, unless the primary joint custodial parents makes orders of magnitude more than the other parent, the parent awarded less custody is going to pay the parent awarded more custody.
But it is possible, in certain scenarios, for a dad who has custody of the children more overnights annually than does a mom. For example, in preparing the answer to this question I calculated child support based upon this scenario:
Mom’s gross monthly income is $2,000. Dad’s gross monthly income is $25,000. Dad has the children in his custody 220 overnights annually and Mom has the children in her custody 145 overnights annually. Even though the children are with Dad more than with Mom, given the huge disparity in the parents’ respective incomes, Dad would end up paying Mom $238 per month, where if Dad had sole custody (meaning that Mom has the children in her custody 110 overnights or fewer annually), Mom would pay Dad $166 per month.
Utah Family Law, LC | divorceutah.com | 801-466-9277