Child Support Question

[Swiggle]

The other thread made me think about my situation and child support. There is the issue of CS with my ex and CS which my current DH pays his ex.

When I left my uNPex in 2010 I had MASSIVE amounts of guilt and he knew how best to manipulate me so I agreed to using one attorney (his) for the entire divorce. I carried so much guilt I agreed to no CS, I remember the magistrate hounding me in the most neutral way for 5 minutes during our appearance about the disparity in income and that CS is for the kids and all sorts of other things. I swear it was like he was trying to smack sense into me from the stand. I left the marriage and wasn't even working at the time so for the calculation purposes they used my last salary as a basis and then deviated down to zero. They used 42 as a calculation for my income and at teh time he was making about 115k. Man I had my head so far in the sand, everyone was trying to tell me what a bad choice this was. We also split all expenses 50/50. I struggled hard for about a year then decided to take him back to court. In the end he was orderd to pay me $488 a month and a 72/28 split on medical expenses. We have 50/50 shared parenting.

My current DH's support order is for $300 a month for their two kids. Until recently she did have more Overnights with the kids now we have 50/50 and split all expenses with uBPDex 50/50. They make about the same amount of money now, she got a new job and his job changed actually putting her at a higher income for a while. We asked for more time not because we don't want to pay CS but at the same time why should we have to pay if everything is equal. The only thing is their kids are in a private school and mom pays for all. Now I know to most that probably sounds wrong that dad isn't helping but the sitaution isn't what it seems, I promise. She is uBPD so it is all about control and it was some leverage we had with her when they recently modified their parenting agreement.

I look at both our situations and wonder my ex only pays 188 more to me than DH pays to his ex. My ex makes way more money than I do and DH and his ex make the same. The process just seems broken. We wonder if we should go back to court to modify the CS but not sure what they will do. DH's ex carries the medical but after so many issues with her we are thinking about adding his kids to his insurance at open enrollment.


Are we wrong in thinking he has a right to go back to modify CS?

Swiggle

[scraps66]

so much to factor in here, but, as someone who has "lost" a lot in CS based on numerous errors made by my now fired attorney, court clerks, and Master's with their own agenda - check your calcs like a hawk, everytime and all the time.  One of the simple errors I had professed to me by our case manager in domestic relations, "oh, well, sometimes we just use the gross to determine the percentage of daycare you each pay."  That's not how the guidelines say to make the calculation! 

Also, make sure the calculation accounts for both of your tax standings.  If you are overwithholding and the calculation does not account for that, it can make a significant difference in the monthly calculation.  I had just let mine go for awhile and was not double checking. The last group of errors "cost" me over $4k and I got so fed up after two trips back to court to correct, and not being allowed to make the corrections, I just gave up.  Don't get yourself into this situation. 

[gtjosefs]

Child support calculations are different for every state.  I'm a divorce lawyer in Houston, so I can comment on Texas c/s laws.  But, it sounds like you are somewhere other than Texas.

To answer your questions, you would need to find an attorney in your state.