Divorced and Separate Pay

[Nellie]

How do any of you handle divorced parents that each pay part of the daycare bill?

I have had a family for 4 years and they became seperated this summer. I never had them sign a different contract upon the seperation and as of right now they are both responsible for DC costs. Each parent has the children every other week and on the week they have the kids it has always been that parent that pays the DC bill(this is something they worked out on their own). Last week was the mothers week and she didn't pay me. I see both parents though out the week. Who ever goes to work later/gets done earlier drops off/picks up. The were scheduled off on Thursday. Friday the mom was suppose to drop off and a grandparent was to pick up. Well Dad ended up dropping off that morning. I was very ill all weekend and didn't want to deal with this. Sunday night Dad emails me to ask if he can drop off earlier than scheduled(mom was originally going to drop off). I will see mom Tuesday at pick up. I just emailed Mom the total for last week with the late fee's. Do I tell Dad that Mom hasn't paid? I really have never had any problems with this family so I assumed it was an accident, but it seemed weird that Dad dropped off today. I do know that mom has been under financial stress and that causes me to worry. Per contract I don't take the kids tomarrow with out pay.

How do other providers handle 2 parties paying the daycare bill?

[SunshineMama]

I have a non-dating, never married couple. They just switch off weeks. Dad owes one week, mom owes the other. Sometimes I get paid late, but I always make sure that they pay. I give 1 week free vacay, all else is due. I leave it to them to work out if someone has to pay more bc I closed without pay for a day. Sometimes dcm pays more and sometimes dcd pays more. Of course sometimes each one complains to me that the other is not paying on time, etc, but as long as I get paid I ignore it. I am more flexible with payments from these dcps bc they both have financial issues, but they just switch off.

[littlemissmuffet]

Everyone needs to figure out their payments outside my home and time. I expect payment in full (one payment) on the first of every month from each of my families. I do not accept split payments - parents need to figure this out on their own. If payment is not made in full, there is no daycare and late fees are applied as usual.

[daycarediva]

I would say that YOU need to make them accountable. If dcm hasn't paid by the due date, you need to call her and tell her that she is late and the new total is ***XX because of late fees.

What I do, regardless of what the parents have worked out, is accept ONE check/payment. I have divorced parents, but I ALWAYS get paid from one parent (one dcm and in the other circmstance dcd) THEY are responsible for getting the other half of daycare fees from the other parent, not me. I have always done it this way, and it has ALWAYS worked out well (for me, atleast).

What are you going to do when DCM doesn't pay you but DCD does? Per your contract (which you should stick to!) I would call dcd and tell him that dcm hasn't paid you yet and you require payment in full before the kids can come back/per contract.

[daycare]

I would say that YOU need to make them accountable. If dcm hasn't paid by the due date, you need to call her and tell her that she is late and the new total is ***XX because of late fees.

What I do, regardless of what the parents have worked out, is accept ONE check/payment. I have divorced parents, but I ALWAYS get paid from one parent (one dcm and in the other circmstance dcd) THEY are responsible for getting the other half of daycare fees from the other parent, not me. I have always done it this way, and it has ALWAYS worked out well (for me, atleast).

What are you going to do when DCM doesn't pay you but DCD does? Per your contract (which you should stick to!) I would call dcd and tell him that dcm hasn't paid you yet and you require payment in full before the kids can come back/per contract.

I also do this. I will not accept money from two different parties. The parents need to work that out and it is their problem.

I think it would be a good idea for you to let both parents know that this current arrangement is not working out and that you will now be requiring them to agree upon who will make the payments. Let them figure out who wants to collect from who.

It would not be fair to dad if the mom is not making ontime payments and then the dad can not drop off on his week of care because the mom did not pay.