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What does this mean?

purdy's picture

Submitted by purdy on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 12:45pm

We receieved a letter in the mail today from our lawyer and since we have not been to court yet to settle child support issues because my sd just moved back with her mom the letter is stating that they want temporary child support how can they ask for this if they dont know what our income is?Could they ask for an amount that we just cant afford so if we have to do this do we have to put all of our expenses aside and pay this amount until we come in front of a judge.Also my husband is a subcontracter so his income varies all the time how does this work?

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Anne 8102's picture

Submitted by Anne 8102 on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 3:44pm

Make sure that you insist that she fully disclose all sources of income, as well as documentation for expenses.

Basically, this is just to ensure that there's some $$$ coming in for the child while you are waiting for the court date. Sometimes that can take months.

~ Anne ~

Shar's picture

Submitted by Shar on Fri, 11/03/2006 - 8:13pm

I am in Ontario, and the courts here only go by your income tax (T-4) for the year. We have child support tables for a specific income and how many kids. Is it that way in the states?

Anne 8102's picture

Submitted by Anne 8102 on Sat, 11/04/2006 - 5:36am

VA and NC both use a formula to calculate each parent's total contribution. These formulae are based on the cost of raising a child in that locality, the total income of both parents, the cost of supplying insurance, child care costs, previous support orders for other children, the number of children requiring support, the amount of time spent with each parent, etc. Then they take the combined incomes of both parents, along with the total cost to raise a child and determine how much "support" each child needs. Once they determine that amount, they then look at how much each parent contributes to the total income. If Mom earns 60% of the total income, then her contribution is 60% of the CP amount and Dad's contribution is 40% of the CP amount. The custodial parent doesn't actually "pay" anything, because the premise is that the CP will use that amount towards the child(ren). The noncustodial parent, however, has to pay either the CP directly or the state's Child Support Enforcement program, who then cuts the CP a check. It is actually a pretty fair way to calcuate the amounnt and CSE does a pretty good job of enforcing the child support order for FREE. Unfortunately, there's no policing done of visitation and you have to pay out your you-know-what to get a lawyer to help you enforce visitation.

I know there are some states out there that use a flat percentage of the noncustodial parent's income, which I'm not sure is fair because it allows for so much discrepancy and doesn't put the financial burden on both parents, just on the one who doesn't have custody.

So there is some discrepancy between states, but the federal law does act as a sort of umbrella, so that all states have to honor the CP orders of the other states.

~ Anne ~