child support question

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-26-2004
child support question
5
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 12:20pm
I am wondering if someone can help me clarify something. My stbx and I have been handeling things ourselves and it has been going fairly well. He did not get rehired at the end of last school year and wasted his summer vacationing with his girlfriend. Anyway, he didn't even start to look for a job until last week. He has a temp job that he started yesterday but he is now only making about half of what he made before. He decided to pay child support based on his new income - we have no formal order yet- which is now signifacantly less than before. We are going in on Tuesday for a meeting about custody and support arrangements and I am wondering if his support will be based solely on his new income or if they will take into account he has a much higher earning potentional but wasted his time finding a job. I am the one getting screwed on this part, but I don't want mess up the somewhat peaceful situation we have going on now.
Any thoughts?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-06-2005
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 12:27pm

I believe they take the last year's income average it out.


Hope that helps :)


iVillage Member
Registered: 06-13-2005
Fri, 09-02-2005 - 2:25pm

Generally, the courts will take your income and his income, and add it together. There is a universal child support guideline that determines how much money is needed to support however many children you have. They divide the total of both of your incomes by each of your individual net incomes to determine the percentage each parent is responsible for. Whatever that figure is, is what will be determined as child support. You can have insurance and childcare factured separately or include it in the total figure of allowable deductions from your income. The court will also determine what percentage he will pay of those also. Of course, if you are the custodial parent, no monies will be directly taken from you, however, your income is still factored into the overall need and he pays his percentage to you directly or through the court.

You always have the option of taking him back to court to increase child support when he is making more money. The courts cannot leave him unable to take care of his basic needs either, therefore, unless he is obviously hiding income, they generally do not impute income.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Sat, 09-03-2005 - 8:55am

I hope that you have income tax records for the past.... at least 3 years.


Karen ~ wildlucky4me ~

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-19-2005
Sun, 09-04-2005 - 4:57am
Child Support is usually figured out using the past three years income tax returns...as well as a list of all assets ( personal and business related ) and debts.
If it is only the summer he has had off, then his last three year's taxes will still show his full time earnings...thus the potential that he can earn this year as well if he looks for a job.
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-14-2003
Sun, 09-04-2005 - 7:56am
Go into court and be objective. You're not disturbing the peace. You're in court because CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE CHANGED, not because you want to rake him. Focus on your children's material needs and if you have a lawyer, let him or her bring up any ugly stuff like his delayed job search. Ultimately you don't have to make the call, the court does. Really though, if he just made a big mistake and isn't playing a game, he won't want to go on long with decreased income. If he is playing a game, the courts have seen all that before. Best of luck on Tuesday.


Edited 9/4/2005 8:05 am ET ET by gonnabefine