do you show your ex where your money goes?

no one needs to justify how they spend their CS (or their wages, or anything else) - how do you know your ex isn't putting the CS straight into rent and food, and spends her "income" from parenting payment on stuff for herself, what business is it? as long as the children are provided for/not neglected (ie, they have a roof over their head and food in their bellies...). ftb and CS are to help the family unit - parenting payment is essentially HER income (as your wages are yours) - and if she wants to fritter it away paying for a mani, so be it. parents (in all family structures) work damn hard, and sometimes they need to do something to pamper themselves. for you it might be a box of beer on pay day, for her a mani ever six weeks...

if you have an issue, you can speak to child support about turning a PORTION of your liability into a non-cash payment - so goes directly to their schooling or something - but it has to be agreed to by both parties.