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Child Support ?'s

bubbles's picture

Submitted by bubbles on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 10:15am

We got a letter in the mail Saturday for a child support review. In your personal experiences, has the support increased all the time? This is the first review for us. When the order was first enforced was when they divorced. Now...our situation is this...married to me of course, I have two girls from prev. marriage and my ex sends about $300 month support for my 2 girls, and of course I'm sure like others, we live from paycheck to paycheck. Even though my ex sends $300 support that does not cover much for them. Does the AG take into account our current situation...bills we have, expenses to cover our household, my kids? Is is possible to get the payment lowered??? Or at least stay the same?? If it goes UP, our household will be in a bind...do they care?? (the AG office)

My husband just switched jobs, but this company is supposed to pay commission bonuses monthly and quarterly, we have no idea how big or small these checks will be since he hasn't yet gotten his first paycheck yet. Do they collect money from commission checks or a sign on bonus?

Do you all go with your spouses to the reviews? Any info you all can provide will hopefully ease our minds some, at least we'll know what to expect.

Comments

happy's picture

Submitted by happy on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 10:24am

I know where I live it does not take into consideration my husbands income on my child support and vice versa we together are ok with money but when his ex thought because we were married that when she asked for support that it would take my income into consideration she was dead wrong.. IT only takes the bio parents.. I think you should call and see. If he is making more then yeah they will usually increase it.. Call or get online and look at the specifics for your state.. You can also figure what they payment would be based on the bio parents income each. look up child support calculator.. Good luck..

Anne 8102's picture

Submitted by Anne 8102 on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 10:33am

Ours wasn't a "review" situation, she wanted more money and so she sued him. We actually ended up paying less. Both parties agreed to a mediation, which is basically where you are in separate rooms and a judge goes back and forth between you trying to find a happy medium. In our case, the judge said that our children "don't matter." The only children that mattered were the ones from his previous marriage. There's a formula that is used to determine the amount, I would check online to find your state's form for computing support and see what it says. It should depend on the income of both bio parents and what dependents they each have to support. The income of step-parents, the existence of step-children, etc. usually doesn't factor in. In our case, they took the two bio parents' combined income, then figured what percentage of that total they each earned. Mom earned 60% of the total, Dad earned 40% of the total, she Mom was responsible for paying 60% of the total support for children and Dad was responsible for paying 40%. Unfortunately, Dad goes to jail if he doesn't pay his 40%, but Mom's contribution isn't monitored. That's another problem altogether. But to get the actual amount, you need to get the form and calculate it out. If she's making more money than he is or her circumstances have changed drastically for the better, then it could go down. But if her situation hasn't gotten better, then it could go up. I doubt they will take you or your children into consideration, because the support of your children is supposed to be calculated based upon you and your ex, as your husband is not legally responsible for step-children. The system in this country is really ineffective and unfair at times. I don't think it effectively addresses the needs of ALL the children in a given situation.

~ Anne ~

bubbles's picture

Submitted by bubbles on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 10:38am

So they do take into consideration what the mothers salary is? I mean the mom, makes pretty good money on her own. She probably rarely touches the child support money. Thanks Happy!

Okay, what about when my husband adopts my girls, will they count then to get the support lowered to his ex?

happy's picture

Submitted by happy on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 11:39am

But I can tell you this.. if you two ever got a divorce after he adopted them he would legally be responsible.. So I think that yeah it would have to apply that they are his and he is responsible for taking care of them. So I would say yes.. But I would definately look up the whole thing and or call an attorney that will answer your questions for free..

Candice's picture

Submitted by Candice on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 2:16pm

I'm personally not familiar with Texas child support laws, but from my experience, if your dh legally adopts your children, that eleviates your ex's responsibility financially for those children. Which in turn, means that your dh is now financially responsible for additional children financially, and that in some states reduces the cs amount.

A few years ago, bm wanted a review of cs. At the time of review, I was on maternity leave. Since my dh now had two children to financially support, his cs went down. However, it wasn't enough of a change, so, dshs kept his payments the same (it was like $40 per month). Boy was bm pist off when she read the final report! Refused to talk to my dh about ss's school functions...thought she was going to try to hide him from us...kept trying to plot hate in his head...

I have heard of some states that do not take additional children into consideration, which saddens me, b/c it sends a message that non-custodial parents cannot move on with their lives until their first is 18. Otherwise, you get to live in the poor house.

Anne 8102's picture

Submitted by Anne 8102 on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 11:19am

I don't think Texas considers the custodial parent's salary. Our state does, but not Texas. I think they just do a percentage of the paying parent's net income. If your husband adopts your girls, then you MIGHT be able to get that percentage lowered by a couple of percentage points, but I'm not sure. It may not amount to as much as you're currently getting in CP from their bio father. It's too bad their divorce didn't occur in a state that considers the income of both parents.

~ Anne ~

skye22's picture

Submitted by skye22 on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 11:49am

From what I understand they take into consideration her gross income and his gross income plus the expenses of the child (childcare, medical care). Each households bills are not included nor are any new children. Sorry, it stinks but its how the system works. We now have two children together and one hell of a daycare bill each month and it doesn't matter. She still gets the same money as always if not more everytime my hubby gets a raise Sad

stressed SM's picture

Submitted by stressed SM (not verified) on Mon, 10/30/2006 - 12:04pm

We have had reviews several times, on both sides (I am a SM and a BM and receive and send support). In our state, it is only the Bio Father and Bio Mom's income that is taken into account, in addition to child care expenses. Bills, or a new partnersh's income, or any support you may receive is not taken into account. The last two times I went, my support (received by me) was reduced. Not a lot, but my income had gone up and my ex's had stayed the same for the most part. I'm sure it will be fine.