4th Department upholds an award of sole custody to dad and joint physical custody to both parents but reverses the lower Court’s ruling in regards to the wife paying child support?

A JHO out of Monroe County has issued a decision granting sole custody to the father and joint physical custody to both parents.  As such the parties were given equal shared parenting entitling one parent to an award of child support.  The father despite being the sole custodial parent was granted child support and the Appellate Court reversed the JHO declaring the father to be the non-custodial parent for purposes of child support.  As the parties had a very “acrimonious” relationship joint legal custody was not an option.  However, that did not effect the Court’s decision to direct equal shared parenting.  The court ruled that “It is well settled that in shared residency arrangements, where neither parent has the children for a majority of the time, the party with the higher income is deemed to be the noncustodial parent for purposes of child support”.  This case may have a major impact in the future of litigation.