Questions on Child Support?
I am a fairly new step mother to a 5 year old girl and I have some issues with how much we pay for child support. We recently relocated to the same state to be closer to her and now our visitations have been increased dramatically.
We have to drive two hours to get her and 2 hours home and then back to drop her off every second or third weekend. We also get her for her school breaks, so 4 or so weeks out of the year and then the whole summer. We have her this summer and we have to pay around $800 for summer camp for the month - whilst still paying her mother - $1200!
My husband is nervous to get the arrangement changed as he doesnt want the payment to go up as he is in sales and his salary fluctuates. I am heading back to school so we will have only one income and I am nervous about our finances. Isnt $1200 incredibly accessive? And it was worked out with us living out of state? Her mom just bought a new house and car, and we are living in a 2 bedroom apartment!? How is this an equal arrangement? And is there a chance the payment could go up? RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!
Does it take into account
Does it take into account your household income or just my husbands?
Its seems so excessive for one child!
Normally a step-parent's
Normally a step-parent's income will NOT be taken into account. There are states/places/judges who WILL, though. But usually it is a situation like the step-mom owns a company and employs her hubby. She COULD make it look like he earned $100 a year. So they WILL take household income into account then.
However, I would make sure to separate out everything you can before he tries to get it adjusted. What I mean is separate bank accounts and even Married Filing Separately on your taxes. This is all to protect you and your income from blood sucking leeches.
What does his CO say? Is he expected to pay any medical expenses or insurance?
What state are you in? I
What state are you in? I would check out the state regulations, or better yet, have Dad do it.
There are simplistic free calculators online to estimate what CS "should" be. I think alllaw.com has some.
$1200 for one kid IS quite a bit.
The old contract is in
The old contract is in Colorado - we now live in CA, so we need to get it changed under CA legislation
CS is calculated based on
CS is calculated based on what the NCP makes if one parent is custodial and one parent is not.
If your DH makes $2500 per month, $1200 is excessive. If your DH was making $6k per month when the CS was calculated, think about it, that's pretty reasonable. In my state, he would have had to have been making $6k a month to be saddled with that kind of CS payment.
We do pay around 150 a month
We do pay around 150 a month to cover insurance for her. When it was calculated he was making more than 2500 a month but not even close to $6k. And he certainly isnt make $6k now! haha.
Its definately something that needs to change because we are struggle to keep with payments. She wont ever meet us half way on our 4 hour trip so that surely should be calculated too. My DH is SO reluctant to get it changed for some reason? So annoying.
So the child support order is
So the child support order is out of Colorado? Is the Mom in Colorado? Or is Mom in California too? If both are in California, you should be able to move jurisdiction to California. Definitely should consult an attorney, because many states allow for long distance transportation expenses to be included as a deduction, as well as medical premiums to be used as a deduction. I know in WA state its just the incomes of the parents that are used for calculating child support. If his income fluctuates, then they may look at his income for the last 3 years and average it out, as well as look at his income for the last 7 months and base a monthly calculation on an average of the last 7 months. Save your receipts for things that you pay above and beyond, and even see if you can get a credit for paying summer camp -- or get it to where extra expenses are paid in proportion to each of your incomes. Such as extra curricular activities (ie summer camp) -- so if your husband and BM earn the same each month (for the sake of making things easy) the cost of summer camp would be split 50/50. And yes, I think $1,200 is definitely a lot for one child! Most of the time a financial declaration is put together as well to show your income and expenses --- this gives the court a clear picture of what your finances are like while you're paying child support. As well as the mother's financial picture.
Definitely worth talking to an attorney about all of these issues.