Child Support Modification Worth It?
I know this is highly subjective and case specific but does anyone have any advice to offer regarding requesting a child support modification?
Currenly, BM pays $124 a month in child support and 23% of medical bills. Since the support order was entered 2 years ago SD has been diagnosed with special needs and goes to weekly therapy which means her medical bills are pretty high. Also, BM has gotten a better paying job. I consider $124 a month to be pathetically low. All of the child support calculators I can find online say she should be paying about $312 and that is figuring like $8.50 an hour for 40 hours a week.
Apparently, we can only ask for a review every 36 months and it hasn't been that long yet, only about 24. We do have evidence that BM has the money, ie: bought a new car this year (a cheap car but still, a new car) and flew to England to a One Direction concert a few months ago.
Is this worth it to file a motion to adjust child support or would it make us look bad? Anyone know what our chances of getting a new order would be?
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I would start by asking if
I would start by asking if her if she would be able to pay more of the medical bills. If she refuses then go to court
I think that your SD being
I think that your SD being diagnosed with special needs would be considered a change of circumstance and would allow it to be reviewed.
Without having to file a
Without having to file a motion? That would be handy. I would like to avoid court if we could.
ETA: Eh, who am I kidding. She will fight the amount going up no matter what so whether we start in court or not we will end up there.
You don't have to file a
You don't have to file a motion-you only need the request to friend of the court to request a review.
Everyone will submit their financial documents. The friend of the court support specialist will issue a recommendation. If neither party objects, it will be entered 21 days later.
Both parties have the opportunity to object.
We're going to be in MedusaCounty early next month for this very thing. She convinced friend of the court that she is just a poor, poor unemployed woman when in reality she owns two businesses and lives off of lurch.
If you need help, p.m. me. I've done this 1000 times
That is what I was thinking
That is what I was thinking too.
I try not to be judgemental,
I try not to be judgemental, no accounting for taste and all, but I can't help but think I would be less annoyed by this if her taste in music were better.
She was behind in child support by about $200 at the time. If you want to get technical I believe most, if not all, of that was due to medical bills. She has never so much as spoken to DH about her share of the medical bills to make arrangements to pay us her portion. It always goes onto child support. Except for the first batch of bills we gave her where her portion was a little over $400 and she told him she would have to get SD back on medicaid because she couldn't pay it.
Of course, when she had custody she had SD on medicaid and food stamps and every other program she could find but when she gave up custody she was furiously trying to get SD off all that in an attempt to get out of paying any child support. Thankfully, DH didn't agree to that.
It's a bit convoluted but
It's a bit convoluted but ADHD, anxiety, speech delay/receptive expressive language disorder, and depending on how you want to say it, she has sensory processing issues and/or mild, high functioning ASD. That combined with piss poor parenting has made for a fun ride the last couple of years.
You're in my state-if you can
You're in my state-if you can prove that there has been a change in circumstances, you don't need to wait to 36 months.
You have lots of changes in circumstance-the diagnosis of stepdaughter aa special needs, BM's new job.
You don't even need a lawyer-you can find the request for modification papers on line.
PM me if you need help-sadly, I am an expert at this.
Oh good. I will let you know
Oh good. I will let you know if we need help.
I don't know if it is just my county of if they are all like this but the paperwork they give you is so confusing and convoluted. I really like how the paperwork says conflicting things too.
It is standard all across the
It is standard all across the state.
Seriously-I have done this at least six times over the last 16 years. I am happy to help you.
In chefs case it is worth it
In chefs case it is worth it if nothing other to put the Girhippo on notice that he knows about her antics ( stealth emancipation, etc.) The girhippo thinks that she flies under the radar no matter what.
And isn't it disgusting that if a man calls the child support agencies, they won't give him the time of day because they assume he is the payor whereas if a woman calls they will gladly help her with information because they assume she is the payee?!!
It's infuriating. I still
It's infuriating. I still can't get over that DH tried to call the FOC caseworker to let her know about the CPS investigation we were involved in after BM sent SD back with a black eye and the caseworker wouldn't even call him back. We demand BM take SD to the dentist to get a couple of silver caps put on because I had taken her to the previous 3 appointments and I wasn't doing it again and BM doesn't want to do it so she calls the caseworker to ask if she has to take her or not and wouldn't you know the caseworker was all too happy to call her right back for that.