In the US, spouses salaries are NOT considered. Where I live I know that for sure and I'm pretty sure about the entire country. We have absolutely NO RIGHTS when it comes to the skids so why would salaries or anything else we do be a consideration? If you play the lotto, make sure you are the one to buy the tickets so that she can't get her money grubbing hands on a dime (if you are lucky enough to win)!!

My income or lack thereof has never been considered, nor was the kids' stepfather's. The only thing that factored into it was the income of the bio parents. If a stepparent adopts a stepchild, then they no longer are "step" anything and that new relationship is the same as if you'd given birth to that child.

Now, I do know that there are some states where if the stepparent is standing in loco parentis for an absent bio parent who has essentially abandoned the kids and the step is raising the kids as his/her own and the kids have every reasonable expectation that the stepparent will continue to financially support them, then those stepparents CAN be ordered to continue that support. But it's rare and there are so many convoluted things that have to be taken into consideration. If you hold yourself out to be a parent to the children and you assume the responsibility of raising them and supporting them, then if the bio parents are absent or dead, you could be considered to have a legal obligation to support them. But that's an extreme case and not really the norm.

~ Anne ~

but IT CAN HAPPEN.

I have a good friend. She married a fellow who was previously married with children a few years back, and guess what. BM took x, her husband, back to court. Judge ruled that her, my friend's, income was and is to be included as household income, they were a two family income, therefore it was used to adjust the cs, and they were ordered to pay more cs to BM... IT WAS TOTALLY AND UTTERLY BULLSHIT. While it is against the law, there is no credibility for the judges out there to hold them accountable for their rulings. I have also heard first hand accounts from two other friends who had similar things happen in my state. I saw first hand the paperwork and the paycheck stub of two of my friends. The BM literally went after them financially because all of a sudden, x is remarried, pulling in two incomes, and they both decided to weasel their ways into the x's spouses income. They could barely make ends meet.

So, while it is totally against the law, it happens in my state, and I know three people off the top of my head where the spouse's income was taken into consideration on some level. One of my friends complete paycheck in conjunction of her husband's was considered as HIS TOTAL INCOME, the other friend had a portion of her paycheck that the judge considered "household/family" portion with her husband's. So, while they may not actually TAKE the income from the new spouse's paycheck, the court factor in this amount as a total income for the x (BD), because he was head of household in both cases. So, they took that from the BD's paycheck. One was my friend's husband's complete whole paycheck, and practically close to everything from my other friend's husband's paycheck. (We often laughed and asked if they had the same judge... but they didn't. When we looked at the history of the judges, both were very radical biased judges and always ruled for the mothers regardless.) The third friend, I don't know what happened. But they went back to court and got a better ruling.

Because of this alone, that is why we have chosen for me NOT to work for the past year until we get SD's cs case all settled. Maybe it's just in the area that we live in, I don't know, but I've run into so many couples with their own horror stories about cs in this state. We can't afford to have any of my income to be factored in, so we decided that while we can barely get by without me working, once everything is said and done, if I have to, I will go back to work part time. If BM takes us back to court, at least then my income that I bring in won't be enough for the court to recognize as substantial, but rather, because of the fall out of cs before we started, if that makes since.

In Texas step-parent's income is NOT considered. But the custodial parents income isn't considered either. Example, If BM has custodial custody (kids sleep, eat, etc, at her house more) her income does not factor. If she makes $80,000.00 annually and EX Spouse makes $35,000.00, EX spouse who has 2 children still pays 28% of his income towards child support, PERIOD! Everybody always thinks of it being great UNTIL you think of it reversed, ALL men do NOT make more than ALL Women. BTW in our case it's JOINT Custody when dealing with medical, education, etc, but she had primary physical cutody ALTHOUGH, and this is hilarious she has the kids from pick-up of school on Monday afternoon until drop off of school on Thursday morning, we pick up Thursday afternoon and keep until Monday morning where we take them to school, however because Husband has WORKED HARD and makes a very good income, (we really can't complain on the income) he is a 6 figure wage earner, she (BM) receive $3,000.00 a month child support) and in my opinion we have the kids just as much as she does, and SHE has to contribute NOTHING, and I do mean nothing, We pay 100% medical, she gets to file the kids on taxes EACH and EVERY year.
Now I am going to remove the anger from this statement and I truly would like to know TAX purposes, If you are not contributing more than $3,000.00 PER month toward your kids, because we're paying $3,000.00, so in order for you to be able to say you are paying for all of the kids needs you would need to be paying more than we are paying, why do you get to file the kids on taxes as dependents when they are NOT dependant on you, they are, as well as you (if truth be told) dependant upon us. I don't get this part of family court.

And before I get hit up with all the BM's out there about how much, rent, food, car, etc cost, this is not the case here, This BM lives in an all bills paid, hood-rat, roach infested, crime ridden, $125.00 a MONTH I repeat $125.00 a month apartment, she drives a 1992 vehicle, and is always ALWAYS in designer clothes, eats out for dinner EVERY night, and takes cruises, vacations, spas, etc. Don't give me she CAN't afford to get out of a $125.00 a month apartment and drive a better and decent car. She is pocketing and splurging the child support and doesn't want to GROW UP and get a HOUSE, a future or anything nice for the kids because it would hinder her spending.

Sorry for the venting.....this just brought up too many painful memories of this woman.

"Be there for the joy. Be there for the tears. Be there for each other."
(Step-Mom the Movie 1998)

In Ontario, if Dad is paying CS, only his income is factored in...no other. Doesn't matter is mom makes $110,000 and dad makes 30000, he still pays according to the chart. That is fair in my opinion!

Child Support is set based on his income alone and what the chart says....But spousal support CAN BE affected by your new partners income.
I was laid off my job....and the judge mentioned that it qualified as a 'material change in circumstance' in Hubby's household and granted our petition to have spousal support to his X stopped...this fact, in combinatin with many others is what did it.

Would it work the other way...so X could petition for more...good question...because 'officially' I don't think it's supposed to..but a good lawyer can get around it...I think.

For example, part of spousal support entitlement comes from one spouses 'ability to pay' and the others 'need'...so technically if you working frees up more 'free' money for him....then he may now have 'ability to pay' from the extra income in his pocket as you contribute more to househood expenses.....

That's how I've seen spousal support work in Canada.....but they don't like to mess with an order once it's in place...and I think it's the exception to consider new spouses income......we had many other significant circumstances in our case against his X.

We met with the attorney last month and if we are filing jointly I have to disclose my income in order for the program to calculate DH tax burden for purposes of chidl support. Other than that, the dissomaster program doesn't rely on my income to calculate child support. However, if we ever wind up in court, I have an instinct that my income might influence the judge to not give DH any breaks where there is any discretion, as unfair as that is.

Your right ... there is a huge area of grey. And although things like that don't matter 'officially'....in reality they do. We had so much evidence of lies, deception, withholding information, questionable documents....as far as x goes...
The judge did not look on her favourably..because of it all. So instead of looking for a legal way to give her what she asked for which was spousal support until the day she died basically. The judge looked for the legal way to give us what we asked for..which was retroactive termination of spousal support.

We are going to meet with the divorce attorney again. This is my situation: My husband and I just got married in December in February he will be divorced for 2 years. In divorce decree it said that she would pay off certain debt and he would pay off certain debt. He has paid his parts, but there is one credit card in his name that SHE was supposed to pay she hasn't paid it off yet. She has been late paying it, and while right now we are not seeing a negitive things on his credit report but I could see it happening soon. The x is upset that now that we are married she thinks we are making so much more money and shouldn't be worried about it, but I disagree.... She has now said that she is going to take him back to court to try to get the 50/50 custody agreement changed and try to get child support from him because he has an increased income!!!! We even have taken over the insurance which she is supposed to take care of but we can get it so much cheaper through my company. Why won't she realize I am not going to hurt the kids, and they are really blessed to have an extra person looking out for them!!!!

and our attorney told me that she (bm) is entitled to know my financial records, but they cannot factor my income into cs. What they can do is look at our household income, and figure out what my obligations are to our household, and offset my dh's obligations to our household, which then can figure into cs.

I personally have not seen this go through, our attorney wouldn't allow it, and my income has never been factored into cs. When it all boils down, only bm's income and dh's income are used to figure out cs.

We went to court two years ago and the money grabbing ex tried to obtain money from me. I just sold my house and I make good money and she tried hard to get a piece of it (and she wonders why I dislike her) and in Ontario they would not even consider it. I am sure it pissed her off...not sure why because she still got a lot of money from the ex. Guess when you are greedy you want it all.

What I was told by my attorney is that since he is living with this woman and she also has an income, the court can take that into account. It makes paying the bills less of a burden since there are 2 incomes. However, they cannot base the cs on your combined income. Does that make sense?

Susanna, I completle agree with you. I wouldn't want to do that either and I am not a step mom, just an ex but that certainly would not be fair.

I know in my case that it really is irrelevent how much his girlfriend makes because he makes in the high six figures. My ex has been trying to take away our daughters horse which is her passion in life. He is trying to say that he can't afford it. He does have a house that he owns and I have the old family house. He actually has less expenses now that we are divorced. We had a beach house which we sold and it was much more expensive than the home he has now so what a crock that he can't afford it.

Good luck

knowing your income either. we just went through a child support issue and our lawyer made it clear that my income is non of bm's concern and that proof of bf's income needs to come from w-2's and not tax filings. this way bm only sees his income not mine. i was very happy with our lawyer because i make more money than bf and it makes bm crazy not to know what it is.

We just went through custody mediation and DF had to list my income on the report as well as my dependent BD who was Sr in HS. This is CA and they recalculated his SS and CS - the only advantage we got was having the SS 50% time - reduced the CS from 900 to 780. The SS stayed the same 1800. Since we arent married - it pissed me off big time. They used my income we he stated lower than actual (like 2k less per month than it is) and still got screwed. The only thing the judge put in the order was for BM to become self dependent because it is the law in CA. Oh brother. We are having major problems with his lying and crap especially since he tried to borrow money from his mother to pay the attorney bill - I found out because I intercepted the mail he was sending when he went out of town on a busines trip. Called him on flat on the carpet - and he lied - then finally after talking - he admitted it. His mother on the other hand - when he told her what I had done - was like "are you okay with that?" Like I had committed some crime or something. What about the crime of the men lying to us about what they have/dont have and how they use their finances??? Anyways - I do know in our case - we are engaged but not married yet - do cohabitate in my house - and it impacted the CS and SS decision because supposedly we share expenses - although I still pay for everything because he cant. Just my 2 cents.... I would say protect yourself!!!

I will not file a joint income tax, have any accounts together, I even kept my maiden name. I have not co-mingled ANYTHING until his children turn 18 so his X can't ever want anything of mine. I'm even willing to divorce on paper if she thinks she'll get a cent out of me. I can easily put her son on my insurance policy----but NO WAY. I don't want anyone to think that I am responsible for his & her children for a moment. They made them, they take care of their needs. I took care of my kids needs------NO ONE ELSE. Be careful what you give, because then it may be expected. & I am not mad, I am CAREFUL. I love my life because I am not responsible for their children other than smiling and being kind when I see them.

I don't think I was around the first time this was posted. It is Federal law that SOs or spouses income is not a FACTOR to be considered in the FORMULA for calculating child support. It can be a factor to be considered, but it is not in the formula. The only time the spouse's income is considered is if their individual income substantially increases the household income, like the spouse makes twice as much as the parent.

There is accountability to judges, but you have to have the money to appeal their decision. Also, the other accountability is election time. Remember, most judges are initially appointed by the gov., but after their first term they are elected - so there is accountability.

~ Katrina

The bottom line in our situation is that it appeared that the father could pay her more because my income factored into the decision - it made it look like he had more expendable income. He would have been better off on his own. The thing I dont understand is they have you do the expense declaration - but credit card and loan debt is not considered as outgoing......why is that? He assumed debts from their marriage approx 80k and is still paying it off. It seems that its really up to what judge you get in court that day and their decision. I know of a friend of mine who was in the same court system - and got a different judge - the wife wanted lots of ss - the judge admonished her and informed her within 1 year she had to be self sufficient and the ss would terminate in 3 years. They were married 15 years. In our case - fiance was married 13 years - separated for 4 and still paid all of her housebold expenses - and the ss only now has a stipulation that she must become self sufficient within a reasonably amount of time. Anyways just blabbing here. Thanks

My information is none of her business. They have asked for it but I've never given it up. I guess they want to see how gullible I am...to bad for them I wasn't born yesterday. I didn't make the child and my income won't be used to calculate child support for her.

Some people are like slinkies...not really good for anything but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs!

Only the BF and BM income is taking into account for child support. My BD16's father lives with his girlfriend and their son and her income does not count. I think he gets a small "deduction" for the son that lives with him but not much. Every 2 years in MN you get a cost of living increase and I get both of them this year. Yippee an additional 42 bucks a month. With the price of gas every bit helps.

As I am the breadwinner in the household and we have 2 chldren together and I have 2 bio sons and my dh has 2 daughters from previous relationships. My dh failed to divorce his wife until nearly 2 years into our relationship as he was in the USMC when he married this loser and she was in and out of jail on drug charges. She had another child with some other guy while they were still legally married. She is on welfare and now the state of FL deems my husband the legal father of this child and the cs system has no interest in determining parentage. We have asked for parentage determination but they do not even address it and are now seeking support from my husband for this child that he is not the bio father of. They are using my salary and want to see our joint tax returns which feels like complete bs on top of the fact that we are not getting cs from her for a child I have fully supported at times that she is the bio non-custodial mother of and my SD lives in my home. I make nearly double that of my husband. I just feel like screaming as we already have to pay child support for a child that I know is his and that I don't mind but for a child that he did not father seems obnoxious. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

My grandmother used to work for FOC, and apparently, back in the day they were allowed to nab the step parents income if they were to get married with the payee. I think the way things are right now are fine, it wouldn't be fair in my eyes if they were to take the SP's money anyway.

I have been SDad to my now 16yo SS since before he turned 2yo.

SpermDad, who has 4 out of wedlock Spawn by three different women (my SS is his oldest)gets a $1000.00 reduction in his income for the calculation of child support because the moron Family Law Judge ruled that "the StepDad earns a good living and SpermDad (my name for the idiot not the "Judges") should not be punished in order to help support an artificially elevated standard of living for the child".

WHAT THE HELL IS AN ARTIFICIAL STANDARD OF LIVING? My wife and I bust our butts to have a nice standard of living. There is nothing artificial about it. When compared to the subsistence level existence of the TOOTHLESSSPERMDAD it may appear artificial but our standard of living, like our teeth, is real.

This "Judge" is just another example that the bottom 10%ers of the legal profession make their careers in family law. IMHO of course.

I have never heard of SParent income being taken as CS but in our blended family situation my income was considered in order to reduce SpermDads income for CS calculation purposes.

Good luck and best regards,

After we were married, BM pulled the same crap. She threatened to take DH to court to increase CS. So, a year later she did. I had looked into it extensively, called the mediation dept at the state of DE. Without giving any information about the case, just asking a general question...... They told me that my income would NOT be a consideration in CS. We tried to tell her that it was a mistake (well DH did, but as usual - she doesn't listen...she knows it all) and so she filed for a change in CS. In a most shocking turn of events (especially to her) the formula calculated a whole $88 a month....down from the $1008.00 a month he was paying. Wow, I guess that must have put her panties in a knot. DH called me, I gloated for a couple of minutes, and told DH that $88 a month wasn't enough, and that he should agree to pay her $200 a month. She had the nerve to complain about it, that it wasn't enough, and he should consider more - (this coming from the woman who is going to Disney in April - minus one of her kids and vacations 2 times a year to the Outer Banks.... whatever :() ) What comes around goes around!

In the State of Oregon it can. But.....only under certain circumstances. My understanding is the salary of the step parent must be very high in comparison to the other household. These things can always be fought, just because a ruling is handed down does not mean it can't be overruled.

It can't happen legally but I think attorney's and judges have an unwritten or unspoken rule somehow to take the Step parents income into account. My DH updated his financial advadit showing how much he is paying in rent, food, etc... the lawyers and judges actually said you live with your wife.. so they somehow sneak little things in there that isn't written but that is why the stepparent always feel they are being taken advantage financially. It is the nickel and diming that really get to you.. So from my experience there won't be any law written that says you can take the step parents income into account paying child support they find ways that are unwritten.

It isn't good in Canada, as previous poster suggested My husband pays 17.5% of his GROSS income in CS for 2 kids, but who lives on GROSS income?! Nobody, it's not real, in fact, after taxes CS is 25% of his income. Then they add on day-dare, medical and dental, and all kinds of "extras". If the moms move away with the kids, they don't have to share access costs (though many do). But if they are difficult, NCP's pay for access costs 100%, even if BM moved away with the kids. In reality, BM takes over 1/2 my husbands income.

On paper it sounds OK, but in reality it SUCKS and is much more than most people know, cause the table amounts (as quoted in the above post) are based on one child, with no "extras" added and calculated on the payors gross income. Then the payor gets NONE of the tax benefits of credits for supporting his kids, only the CP's get that. In reality, I know almost NO payors in Canada that pay less than 35% of their take-home income. It is too much.

And although they are not "supposed" to factor in a new spouses income, there are disturbing reports that they are starting to do this. I really think it is up to us "second" wives to exposes the problems with the current CS system, as they system seems designed to let the BM's live off child support and have no accountability (if they want to), yet the paying fathers work their A$$ES off just to pay CS that may (or may not) even be benefitting his kids!

I believe the step parents income is considered in terms of running the household. For example, let's say in your new job you took over paying all of the household bills. Your husbands monthly debts would suddenly go way down which means his support amount could be reconfigured based on the amount of disposable income he now would have.

My DH is a househusband and I work, so I pay his CS anyway and because I am his source of income they do take a small portion of my taxes for CS but that's because we file married-joint. Even with them taking some of it we get a bigger tax return doing it this way. (Michigan)

My DH and I have two business together. Yes, my income is calculated including the CS that I get from my ex into his CS. The reasoning? The courts say that because we own our own company together it is too hard to determine who's income is who's including my CS. Therefore, we have filed for an appeal based on this idiot judge who can't do math! I own half, therefore, half the income is mine. Not hard but this judge thought the BM was destitute and felt sorry for her. Now we get to pay 10K to dispute this stupid ruling and of course the BM is suing us for her attorney bills to fight it.

They are really not supposed to do anything with the spouses' income in most states, but I have had some frustrating experiences. At one point BM was trying to say that FDH has all this "hidden money" and that his support should be higher (at this point he was paying $876/month for one kid while making about $27,000/yr). She brought up the fact that we bought SD a nintendo wii for Christmas that year, so we must be loaded. FDH told the court that I purchased the wii (which I did becuase he obviously never had money paying her so much CS) and the court told him that maybe I should be chipping in to CS then as well! His lawyer quickly disputed that comment, but I was shocked it was even said. What are we supposed to tell the kid? "Sorry santa and daddy and I couldn't get you any Christmas presents becuase your mom is an evil bitch who takes all of daddy's money and spends it on herself??"....that probably wouldn't go over well. My advice would be research your states rights and run it past an attorney. If anything is brought up in court about it, dispute it immediatley. The court will let lots of illegal and unfair things slide if you don't watch out for yourself.

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