Dear Valued Users,
It's with a heavy heart that we announce the permanent closure of StepTalk.org on August 31st, 2025.
This decision wasn't an easy one. For over twenty years, StepTalk has been a source of support for stepparents around the world! However, over the years, the costs associated with maintaining and upgrading the site to remain secure, meet current standards and maintain availability have become unsustainable.
We are incredibly grateful for your support, contributions and the community you've helped us build. Your engagement has made StepTalk.org a special place and we cherish the memories and connections made here.
We would especially like to thank Aniki for volunteering to be a moderator and for caring so much.
Thank you for being a part of our journey and we wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Dawn and The StepTalk Team
Comments
In my state they would look
In my state they would look at what he could be making if he were still working. It's called willful unemployment/underemployment here. It sucks. Nobody would try to force a man in an intact family to work until they are dead to support a lazy woman but it's ok to force a divorced guy to do it.
Yeah... I pretty much figured
Yeah... I pretty much figured that was the case.
If he makes less money than
If he makes less money than she does it might make sense for him to be home caring for their child while she works and they won't have to spend tens of thousands a year on child care. I have a friend whose husband stays home because her salary was almost double his. With him working it would have covered daycare and not much else. They're much happier now. Divorced dads don't get that option because they're forever expected to think only of their "first family"
If your DH decided to just be
If your DH decided to just be a stay at home father, CS would still be calculated at what he could be making (I suppose if he had full residential custody, he might receive CS from the BM. But if she has a low income, he'd only be cutting off his nose to spite his face).
If he were retiring, CS doesn't go away. He would still have an income. If he's of social security retire age, he'd have that. If he's not of SS age but is n early age retiree from say the military or police force, there's a pension and he's still young enough to obtain employment. There might however be something like a reduction in CS...but nope, anyone with minor children are still responsible for supporting their children.
My SGS gets part of his BM's
My SGS gets part of his BM's disability as CS. My SS paid CS to BM for years, but when SGS was given by court to SS the part of disability payments BM received extra for having a minor child, went to SS for SGS.
BM use to work (when she took her meds and didn't drink and was stable) but then went off on federal disability and lost custody of SGS due to mentally not being able to care for him.
We were toldby our lawyer
We were toldby our lawyer that unless there are special circumstances, I.e. health reasons, most courts consider retirements as voluntary and don't reduce child support. We asked because DH is retiring from the Navy in 6 months. We were told that it was highly unlikely that we could get a reduction since DH was retiring after 20 years by his own choice. The Navy wasn't kicking him out.