How to Determine Childcare Costs Post-Divorce
Calculating the cost of childcare in divorce proceedings can be a complicated endeavor. And if all the costs are not included in the analysis, your client could lose out on a substantial amount of money.
While simply adding up the monthly costs of daycare can be relatively straightforward, cialis buy supplier the costs of hiring a nanny are numerous and by no means obvious. Indeed, if you simply penciled in the amount of the nanny’s annual compensation, you would significantly underestimate the cost of hiring and employing the nanny.
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The first expense to consider is the cost of authorizing a nanny agency (or domestic employment agency) to seek online without prescription Camagra buy cheap out a match.The costs of agencies start with $100 and $250 for initial registration, and go on to 14-18% of the nanny’s total annual compensation (including benefits, room & board) as a fee. With a nanny making approximately $35,000 per year or more, the agency’s placement fee alone likely will exceed $5,000.
Along with that, many families run background checks on who they employ, and it’s not uncommon these days to have a drug test and physical, as well. The cost of these background checks, medical exams and drug testing is usually several hundred dollars but can be more depending on the extensiveness of the testing. Once the family hires the nanny, her compensation (including but not limited to wages, meals, insurance, or other benefits and amenities provided to the nanny) is the largest component of the cost of childcare. Remember as well that nannies often receive holiday or annual bonuses, and this compensation should be included in the childcare cost as well.
In addition to these compensation costs, because the family is almost always the nanny’s employer (nannies are virtually never independent contractors), the cost of childcare also should include the cost of the employer’s share of taxes on the nanny’s compensation.
These taxes include 6.2% of the nanny’s wages for Social Security (on wages up to $102,000 for 2008) and 1.45% of the nanny’s wages for Medicare (taxable on all wages), as well as a variety of smaller federal and state taxes.All together, these taxes can add up to an additional 9% of the nanny’s compensation.
Because of how burdensome and complicated it can be to report and pay taxes for payroll, it’s common to hire attorneys, accountants, or payroll firms to handle these tasks. The cost of these services also should be included in the overall childcare cost.
Finally, there are insurance costs that should be considered as well. Many states require household employers to provide worker’s compensation insurance for nannies and other household employees. Similarly, if the nanny is going to be driving the family or even her own car in the course of her employment, the family also should obtain appropriate auto insurance as well. Again, the costs of both worker’s compensation and auto insurance should be included in the childcare cost analysis.
A qualified expert witness can assist family law attorneys in calculating these childcare costs. An appropriate expert can provide data on typical nanny compensation in a given geographic area as well as the range of nanny agency fees in the region. The expert also can attest to the taxes, payroll and insurance costs from firsthand experience with the domestic employment industry.
The best expert resource for this testimony is an individual with a thorough knowledge of entire domestic employment industry including employees, agencies, taxes, payroll and insurance. This one expert can testify to the entire range of subjects and ultimately provide the client with a comprehensive and effective childcare cost report.
Employing such an expert can dramatically increase your client’s recovery for childcare costs by ensuring that all costs of childcare are accurately included in the analysis.
This Childcare Expert Witness cialis online buy is the Founder of a leading law firm representing household employers and domestic employment agencies. He is one of the many experts featured by Consolidated Consultants: The Expert Witness Referral Company. He has served as an expert cialis dosage witness in cases involving household employees, including calculating the cost of childcare in divorce proceedings.He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the International Nanny Association.
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