Son turning 12 soon - child support?
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| Wed, 06-22-2005 - 3:29pm |
Hi everyone, I've moved this question up here hoping to get some respnses...
I've been lurking, posting once in a while, but I do have a question now.
I have two kids (son almost 12, daughter almost 10), and we'll be legally divorced for 2 years in July. My Ex has been faithfully paying me child support ever since we separated. Our child support order states that we review our support amount every 2 years, exchanging past 2 years tax return, current pay stubs in June of odd year, which is right now. I asked my Ex to send it to me and although he does agree to it, he stated the following:
1) He switched jobs a couple of months ago and he makes much less money than before, with no bonus plan.
2) He pays much more for kids' medical than he used to now that he switched jobs.
3) We both bought houses after the divorce, and my house has increased the value significantly more than his. My house has also twice more value than his house does.
4) I own a new-ish SUV and he just bought a 6yr. old car.
5) He says the court doesn't take the past 2 years income into consideration, just the current pay.
He didn't mention the child support increase when a child turns 12. Has anyone done that? I just need to know to determine if it's worth pursuing it. Do all the above make sense to you? Do our assets cuont toward child support calculation? If the court doesn't consider past income, why do they ask for it? I'm pretty sure I have to talk to my lawyer about this, but I wonder if anyone has experience with calculating child support for children older than 12.

Good Question, I would be anxious to see some responses on this as well
Hi!
I didn't know that cs changes at the child's 12th birthday. I'll be interested to see what you learn.
Ex gave me a lame reason why he switched jobs. That was a couple of months ago and he didn't even tell me about it first. Kids told me. (Not that I need to know...) I'm self employed and I *can* control my income. I thought my income was much less in 2004 than in 2003, but I realized it was because my alimony payment stopped. I don't want to believe that Ex took a lower paying job because he didn't want to pay more CS, but that is a possibility.
I guess the value of our house shouldn't matter as far as CS amount is concerned. He even estimated my home's equity gain in the last year. Nobody makes money off of equity.
To top it off, I happened to talk to my Ex's girlfriend's ex-husband today (we were acquainted when we were all married, long story...) and he overheard my Ex bragging how much more money he's making now with his new job. I'm dealing with the guy who resisted showing his tax return when we got divorced because he got a sizable bonus payment that year. Sigh...
Usually the courts make a distinction between a voluntary reduction in pay and an involuntary one. It's hard to prove a reduction was involuntary. Even if you are fired, the courts can say it was voluntary because you did something to get yourself fired, and even if you are downsized, you should be able to get another job. If you have skills that became inadequate due to new technology, and you can prove that you have done everything in your power to replace your income (copies of resumes and cover letters sent, and rejection notices, and lots of evidence that you tried and did end up with the best paying job you could find) then *maybe* they will declare your reduction involuntary. If you were hurt on the job or become otherwise disabled, that would be involuntary. In some ways this is unfair, because any other person can elect to take a lower paying job, say if it improved the overall quality of life for the parent and children, or less stress or whatever, and that parent could choose to live in a less expensive home or drive a less expensive car to compensate for the loss of income. But a parent who pays child support can't do that. It makes sense that one parent should not be able to reduce the income of the other parent, but at the same time, it takes away some rights from the paying parent. Take me for example, I have a chronic illness and stress literally kills me. If my job got stressful and the only less stressful job I could find paid less, I'd still be stuck paying my same child support obligation. Or if I found a job that paid less but would allow me to be home when dd got out of school, I can only do it as long as it means my ex can keep the same standard of living. In your case though, you don't have to do anything other than let the court decide. Most courts frown on voluntary reductions in pay (they believe it's a symptom of a deadbeat parent), but you should talk to an attorney to know more about what to expect. You might need the attorney to formally challenge his reduction of income and make a legal request for the court to impute income (meaning they use his recent highest or 'potential' income).
Thank you so much for your response. It really helped organize my thought.
The only thing my Ex and I agreed on was that we both wanted to save money on the attorney cost. He fought like crazy when we divorced and the little money he got out of me must have been all spent on his attorney. I've developed sort of a friendship with my divorce attorney and whenever we get together with my BF and his wife, he gives me free advice. He suggested I should prepare for the increase when my son turns 12 in Aug. I just wonder if it's worth paying him and going through the legal system to get $20 (or whatever) a month increase. But at the same time, I don't want to lose my right this time because we have a daughter who will turn 12 in 2 years.
Here's an update, although there's not much of it. We've been exchanging e-mails and it seems like we're not getting anywhere. He at least agreed to give me his W-2's although I asked for his tax returns for the last two years AND W-2's. That's what it says in our CS order.
I know he's been trying to manipulative by listing all those reasons why CS amount should be lower, now that he has a lower paying job. Which is, like you pointed out, his totally voluntary switch. It also doesn't make sense because if he believes the CS amount is lower, he should insist on having it reviewed. I'm thinking I'll have to hire my attorney anyway, just to keep my sanity.
I'll keep you posted. Thanks, again.
That's interesting.... I've never heard of the 12 "rule".... and most time when it's time for a review.... it doesn't necessarily mean that support will increase.
Karen ~ wildlucky4me ~