Child support is generally intended to help with the costs of raising the child—including food, clothing, shelter, and education—but laws vary from state to state and are often unclear on the extent to which child support payments are intended to help the custodial parent pay for half of school supplies, health care, braces, glasses, dental care, uninsured medical care, transportation (car), daycare, sports camps, cheerleading camps, school trips, social activities, and extracurricular activities.

Most state laws (statutes) don’t identify the specific child-rearing costs to which the custodial parent is required to contribute payment from child support and other resources—and because these issues are frequently the source of parental conflict, parents should identify all expected future costs and agree to the process for sharing them.

In North Carolina, child support is designed to cover the basic needs of the child, which includes food, clothing, and shelter. The North Carolina Child Support Guidelines provide a framework for determining the amount of child support that should be paid, taking into account the income of both parents and the needs of the child. While the guidelines do not explicitly list every expense, they do consider expenses related to education, health insurance, and other extraordinary medical expenses. Costs such as school supplies, extracurricular activities, and other similar expenses are not specifically outlined in the guidelines, and thus, they are often addressed on a case-by-case basis. Parents are encouraged to come to an agreement on how to handle these additional expenses, and such agreements can be incorporated into the child support order. If parents cannot agree, the court may decide how these costs will be divided. It is important for parents to communicate and negotiate these expenses to avoid conflict and to ensure that the child's needs are met adequately.