Thank you, I'll I used the wrong terminology, yeah, I logistically can't do 50/50 time, but responsibility is 50/50. Moneywise, we've done very well together. Any changes in CSA doesn't impact me at all. Providing for our kids 50/50 is not an issue. So custody will be with her, and then agreed visits. When the time comes
I might be wrong, but I’m still concerned you don’t understand how this works in Australia.
The “equal parental responsibility” in Australian family law doesn’t mean [censored]. It’s supposed to mean both parents have equal weighting in decisions about things like health, vaccination, education, religion etc. It’s a mythical ideal, but since it’s introduction, divorced men in Australia on average are getting less time with their kids than before.
Child support is paid on actual care time. So if you two have the default “equal parental responsibility” but she has the kids most of the time and you get maybe 1 or 2 nights a week, you may have a big child support bill. You essentially pay for the nights that she has the kids. It takes both incomes and care time split into account. Even if she earns significantly more than you, you may have to still pay to her if she has significantly more care.
Unless you do a binding child care support agreement (which any lawyer is going to tell her not to), you aren’t protected if she just says we won’t bother with child support or we’ll split everything 50:50. In a year or two if lawyers get involved/she gets pissed off/she gets a new partner, you’ll suddenly get a letter from child support saying you must pay xyz monthly. And unless there’s a binding child support agreement to the contrary in place… you will be paying.
I’m guessing what I’m trying to say is that no matter what you both earn and what the conversations are right now, eventually if she has more care time than you - you will most likely be paying - often a very significant amount.
Anyway, all that finance aside… why don’t you want equal time with your children? You know the evidence shows that to be most beneficial for their future success at adults?
In Australia, many enterprise agreements allow you to reduce your work to less than full time when children care orders/agreements are in place - and your employer is obligated to make it work. For example, you could work 0.8 FTE, still earn good money, and have your kids 50% of the time.
