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Has anyone heard of a Deviation?

FustratedStepmom's picture

We'll my husband and I are scheduled to go to court for a child support hearing in late APril. Does anyone know if we can get the court date later in May. Also has anyone heard of deviating the ruling?
My story:

My husband and I have been married for a year. I have one son that I have full custody of all teh time. My husband has 2 boys that he shares physical custody with 50/50. No one is the primary custodial parent. We reside in NC. We cover all of the 2 boys schools fees, clothes, sport fees, EVERYTHING. We do not pay her anything. She has been fired from 8 jobs in the past 3 years and feels "all of a sudden" that we should pay her money. We think she has gotten this information from a friend that has told her that judges go strictly by the NC guidelines and she thinks she can milk us for $400.00 a month or more, in which we do not have.
We have prayed and prayed about this and even asked her to come to our chucrh for a Peace Mediation Meeting that our church offers. She has refused and stated she is going to court.
We do not have the money for a lawyer and I don't know what to do?
Is there anyone out there that could help us in NC?

Comments

Gia's picture

I have 100% custody of a 1 year old little boy and my husband has 50%/50% custody of his 4 yo daughter...
But we pay for EVERYTHING concerning to her...

fruitloop's picture

you can get a "downward deviation" of CS based on circumstances like this. Was it ordered that there be no CS or was that just an agreement between them in the past? If your DH can show that he has consistently paid for everything like you have stated, and they truly do have 50/50 custody, then you can probably get it.

Try to go onto your state webiste and look up the legislation and case law for your state to see if there has been any precedence set. My guess is that there is...you just have to find it. If you can quote case law that another judge ruled in your favor on a similar case, then you judge will know you did your homework and you may even be able to do this without an attorney of your own.

Is BM getting an atty? Wait and see...if she goes in alone, you can do the same.

WowjustWow's picture

But NC's rules with CS SUCK! They use a stupid worksheet that they punch the numbers in and pop out an amount. We have my 2 SD's 58% of the time, and since BM REFUSES to work, we pay her about $500 in CS each month. Mind you, this is about 1/4 of my husbands salary (take home), all because she refuses to work. They make the BM claim minimum wage if they don't have a job, but as long as your DH makes more money, you will pay, even if it is 50/50. And, they don't care that she used to work, she isn't now. And if DH loses his job, good frickin' luck getting it reduced! They dont' care if the dad is homeless and broke, as long as he pays up. For a while DH lost his job (before we married) and my MIL had to pay his CS so he wouldn't go to jail. Total bullshit! The system is set up for the men to fail.

They will take some things into consideration, like orthodontia expenses, if you pay for insurance or daycare out of pocket or pay for private school, but not much else. Ironically enough, DH finally grew a pair and called the CS office today to see about modifying it (since we have them more time now than when it was set) and they wouldn't talk to him! They told him he could file a motion in court, but that was it. If BM called, they would have spoon fed her all the info and provided an attorney for her, they did the last time she called.

And to make matters worse, DH works for an attorney's office! And we can't catch a deal on someone helping us. They all want a $5000 retainer fee before they will take on the case. It's ridiculus.

melis070179's picture

NC takes both parents income into account as well as the amount of time the children spend with each parent, and any medical expenses and daycare paid for by each parent. Here's a link to a calculator that will give you a general idea. You can also do a free consultation with a lawyer and ask what usually happens in cases like yours.

http://www.rosen.com/childcalculator/

"Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There's too much fraternizing with the enemy"

WowjustWow's picture

This is what I am so mad about! DH and I do/buy everything for skids, and then pay BM to be a sorry lazy ass poor excuse for a human.

I am seriously considering going to law school to attempt to change NC's CS rules. No one can really think this is fair! I'm not sure how easy it is to get a judge to deviate from the worksheets for "earning potential" We might be trying that one when we go back to court soon. BM has 2 college degrees, DH has none (yet, he is finishing online). She also uses her 5 (just turned 5) year old to hide behind for why she can't work. The kid is in daycare all day, and Saturdays!!! and BM doesn't work!!!

LoveMYBoys's picture

We are also in NC and have 50/50. We have SS on our insurance, and pay for everything it seems. We also have to pay her child support. BUT, she also refuses to work and instead is a professional student. SO, based on all her years of schooling, our lawyer based the amount of child support she recieves on her income potential. Meaning, when he filled out the worksheet others have mentioned to you, he filled it in as her working 40 hrs per week with a certain amount of income. Now, in reality, she works probably 8-20 hours per week at a minimum wage paying job. I know you mentioned going without a lawyer. If you had to represent yourself, just remember her income potential. Try mediation through the court system. My DH did that without a lawyer. It didn't work for them b/c they couldn't agree on anything so it was immediately scheduled with the courts...which meant hiring a lawyer...just what we also wanted to avoid. Good luck to you, I hope it works out.