2006 South Dakota Code - 25-7-6.14 — Abatement of portion of child support--Shared responsibility cross credit.

             (1)      A child spends ten or more days in a month with the obligor; and

             (2)      The days of visitation and the abatement amount are specified in the court order.

     The court shall allow the abatement to the obligor in the month in which the visitation is exercised, unless otherwise ordered. The abatement shall be pro-rated to the days of visitation. It shall be presumed that the visitation is exercised. If the visitation exercised substantially deviates from the visitation ordered, either party may file a petition for modification without showing any other change in circumstances.

     As used in this section, shared responsibility means a parenting plan whereby each parent provides a suitable home for the child of the parties, the court order allows the child to spend at least one hundred twenty days in a calendar year in each home, and the parents have agreed in writing to share the duties, responsibilities, and expenses of parenting, including expenses for the child's education, recreation, and entertainment activities. In a shared responsibility situation, unless the parties otherwise agree and the agreement is approved by the court, the court may, if deemed appropriate under the circumstances, order a shared responsibility cross credit. The cross credit shall be calculated by multiplying the combined child support obligation using both parents' monthly net incomes by 1.5 to arrive at a shared custody child support obligation. The shared custody child support obligation shall be apportioned to each parent according to his or her net income. A child support obligation is computed for each parent by multiplying that parent's portion of the shared custody child support obligation by the percentage of time the child spends with the other parent. The respective child support obligations are offset, with the parent owing more child support paying the difference between the two amounts. It shall be presumed that the shared responsibility parenting plan is exercised. If the parenting plan exercised substantially deviates from the parenting plan ordered, either party may file a petition for modification without showing any other change in circumstances.

     The court shall consider each case individually before granting either the basic visitation or shared responsibility adjustment to insure that the adjustment does not place an undue hardship on the custodial parent or have a substantial negative effect on the child's standard of living.

Source: SL 1989, ch 220, § 14; SL 1997, ch 154, § 7; SL 2001, ch 133, § 2; SL 2005, ch 134, § 3.