Child support
So for some background we received full legal and residential custody of my stepson in December of 2017. bm lives all the way across the country. Bm is required by the court order to pay for all expenses to see stepson if she wants him to travel to her. Bm is also lazy as hell and unemployed... so you can guess how often stepson goes out to see her.
My dh did not ask for child support because he just wanted bm to concede and sign the paperwork so stepson wouldn't be in a neglectful, abusive situation anymore. Well now a year later I'm realizing how expensive a kid is. My dh pays for everything but that means less money we can spend on each other and fun family things.
I keep telling my dh to file for child support but he wont. He says bm isn't working so what's the point.
So my question is, even if shes not working wont the courts order her to pay SOMETHING? even if its 25 dollars a month which could go towards stepsons school lunches.
They will probably order her
They will probably order her to pay something, but less than a man would have to pay, and they won't enforce it if she doesn't pay, or so it seems from other people's stories. Men get thrown in jail for not paying child support, women get a pass from the court.
I agree that he should file for it - but would it cause her to fight to get custody back? It could happen - courts tend to favor mothers.
No
She wont fight back for custody. She cant pay for a lawyer. She didn't have one when we took her to court this last time and she just conceded the day before court even though we flew all the way out to Arizona ready for court. Shes afraid of being in court. Her father has put fear of the government in her. Shes strange. Plus shes had so many open cys cases that i cant see the courts giving him back to her
You can get her tax returns
if she files. And they will impute her minimum wage at 40 hours a week
Thanks
But she doesn't have any taxable income. She literally doesn't work. Her parents who are both on disability support her. I feel bad for them because they are both ill and dont have the money to be taking care of her and her other daughter who is not husbands daughter
Don't feel bad for her
Don't feel bad for her parents. They are choosing to enable her. Also, she may be collecting some type of government support (probable).
Also, don't discount the advice of nowire on being able to collect CS from her tax return. Some people game the system bigtime. If she works even a small amount and earns just a few thousand, she could qualify for an enormous tax refund.
Before there are any nay sayers... I hired a part time receptionist. It was her only job, as a single mother of 5 (all the children had different dads that did not pay any support). She quit after 4 months. Her reason for quitting was she made enough to get a tax return. I'm not trying to be mean, just stating what was very very evident - she was dumb as a box of rocks. BUT she knew how much she needed to work to get that $10k tax "refund" that she talked about so damn frequently.
They would impute minimum
They would impute minimum wage, but that doesn't mean she has the money to pay CS. If your DH is against filing, it doesn't seem worth a fight to push him to do so, since it's unlikely she'll pay it. I think he should file for it, but I can see it from his perspective, too.
My husband
My husband pays for everything for ss. We keep our finances pretty separate. I recently was out of work due to health reasons and now I'm only working 5 hours a day so I dont have money for anything else other than my student loan Bill's. I used to pay for clothes for ss and wish I still could because I enjoy that but I can't afford it. So I guess you're right, I should just keep my mouth shut. She probably wont pay a dime. We asked her to help pay for his Tamiflu because it was 87 dollars and even that money came from her parents. Shes a deadbeat
Once 2yrs has passed DH can
Once 2yrs has passed DH can likely file for a CS ammendment. Most states limit CS review to every two years as I understand it.
And yes, even if the NCP is voluntarily unemployed or purposfully under employed the court can and often will impute an income on the NCP for CS calculation purposes. She may not pay but it will accrue and DH will own her ass.
I'm trying to come around to
I'm trying to come around to the possibility of getting joint custody of my partner's kids because it will wipe his child support out. But I absolutely refuse to discuss sole custody because we will never see a cent from her. Regardless of what the court orders. I know the kids would be better off without that crazy bitch. But I simply refuse to compromise my financial situation any further.
Also his daughter has major hygiene issues and doesn't care to improve. The most I can take of her is every other weekend. I can barely stand the thought of split custody.
The court can definitely
The court can definitely impute it and the might garnish a tax return here or there.