To get CS. Her BF hasn't been employes, well, ever. He is pretty much a total deadbeat. The court assessed him on his "earning potential". And - he is required to pay it. We are in an entirely different state from him - several states away. So, I think the answer is yes. He is required to pay regardless of employment. (It could be different in your state though.

We are in Missouri as well. SD15 is going to live with BM, so we must pay CS. CS will be based on husband's current earnings, as I understand it. If at some point in the future your husband chooses not to work, he still must pay CS, likely the same amount. The state "imputes" earnings to someone who is not employed, equal to what they could be making if they were employed. Not working is not an excuse to not support your kids, in other words.

If at some point in the future your husband loses his job and takes a lower-paying job, you can petition the court to change the CS to be based on his new earnings.

I have been all around the block with this issue. He knows he will be unemployed, they will tell him to collect unemployment, and take support out of that, he can get his CS modified to a lower amount but it has to be modified through the courts....it takes a while. If he becomes a stay at home dad.....don't think thats even possible when you have a support obligation against you, he still has to pay somehow, you dont want to pay it, do you?? Sorry to get so personal, but it's not a good path to take because of his obligation. Talk about this in mediation, but getting it modified will probably be all you can do. Unfortunatly Dad's are always expected to work...no matter what because of CS. ~"Resist all the urges.... that make you want to go out and kill." ~ Chel.

To be really smart about this , he should try as hard as possible to find a new job, anything is better than unemployment, my DH went through all this 2 yr. ago, he did not find a job fast enough, so he had to file unemployment, they took portions of that, but it was not enough to cover the support amount, and getting it modified took forever, so he fell behind. You have time on your side right now, so start the process ~"Resist all the urges.... that make you want to go out and kill." ~ Chel.

...that if he becomes involuntarily unemployed, then finds a job making less, he could ATTEMPT to have the amount lowered by petitioning the court for a modification of the CS amount based on his new salary. They may or may not grant it. If he is voluntarily unemployed, such as deciding to become a SAHD, well, he's SOL, because he STILL has to support his other children and, like the others said above, they may base the amount on historical figures. It's not always about just what you make now, but what you have made in the past. Because he has had the potential to make that amount of money in the past, they may base the amount on his most recent salary.

I don't know how it is in your state, but I think in many states the amount is based on both parents' incomes and income potentials. You make more, you pay more. You have the ability to make more, then you have the ability to pay more. Fair or unfair doesn't enter into the equation. She could always argue that SHE could've been a SAHM if they'd stayed married, and some judge might see that as reason to award her a higher amount than HE would be awarded for doing the same thing. Could he have afforded to be a SAHD if he'd stayed married to her? Probably not. The supposed purpose of setting a certain amount of CS is to keep the status quo as much as possible for the kids after the divorce. I

f you don't mind making up the difference, that's your call, but you should probably plan to pay what he's paying now, because I doubt you'll get it lowered based on his decision to not work. Having said that, another thing to consider is that if you go back for a modification based on him earning a lower salary AND the two of you have another child to support, that could lower the amount. Could, not will. Some states don't take future children into consideration, some do. My state did and we did get the CS lowered in mediation based on the original amount being too high in the first place - more than half DH's bring home pay - the fact that BM makes 2/3 of their combined salary and is actually responsible for a larger share of the total CS amount than DH is based on the state's calculation, and also based on the fact that DH had adopted my son and I was 8 mos pregnant with our daughter when we went to mediation, which was two more children to support than he had when the original CS amount was set.

The best advice I can give, though, is to CYA the whole way. Make sure you have enough $$$ set aside to pay the full amount while you're waiting to find out if it can be lowered and be prepared to not have it lowered, or even to have it go up, based on changes in any of the other factors that go into the calculation. It's a crap shoot.

♥ Georgia ♥

"Good men don't just happen. They have to be created by us women." (from ROSEANNE)