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How do can I increase my child support from my ex?

Unhappy's picture

Okay.....Before anybody goes off calling me a greedy BM please understand that I do not get much CS per month, I have my BD 100% of the time (he never sees her), and I work full time. I'm not running around spending the CS on myself. It all goes into the household.

My ex has gotten a new job after we split where he went from making 11/hour to driving long haul making significantly more. The health insurance that I have for BD through my work went up this last year after the CS was set.

My issue it that CS is supposed to be there because it covers half of the cost to raise a child. The amount my ex is paying doesn't even come close but it's based off of his old job. When I called into health and welfare they said that I had to wait three years after the order went into place to change the amount. My question is that just for them to change it? Can I take my ex to court to get it changed?

All I want for him it to help pay his portion in raising his child. It's not that I can't do it, but I don't have the money for the fun stuff for her like pee wee baseball or getting her involved in 4H because I'm paying for atleast 75% of the costs (and there is no way that he would split these costs with me). Mean while in the last year my ex has pruchased three cars and a motorcycle. Not that I care how he spends his money but a little extra support would help so that BD can have some fun instead of all of my money going to support not only my half but atleast half a portion of his half. In fact his portion only covers just over 3K a year of the cost to raise her. Last time I checked it was much more expensive. Having to pay for a roof over her head or at least contrubute, bills such as water gas and electricity, food, clothes, the gas to drive her places such as school, absorbing the additional cost for the her medical insurance increase. That one alone is an additional $480.00 per year that he's supposed to cover. If you subtract that amount from what he pays per year that puts it his contribution below 3K.

Any advise? Please refrain from attacking me. I'm not being a BM. It would just be nice to not have to struggle as much and maybe be able to put a little money away for an emergency and get her into something that she would enjoy doing. I know that there are some of you out there who are doing it without CS or less than what I get and I'm not taking away from his second family as he is single and running around doing drugs and partying.

Comments

herewegoagain's picture

Aren't you the one also wanting to have another kid? Sorry, if you need to ask your ex for more money, why are you also wanting another kid? He paid cs based on what he was making when you separated...are you divorced? Do you get the child tax credit? Do you claim the kid on your taxes? Sorry, i don't get it.

Unhappy's picture

I do want to have another child with my now DH. I do get to cliam her on my taxes but the ex gets CS break for that and I do not qualify for the EIC because I am married and my DH makes good money. He is actually helping to cover the cost of my ex when it's not even his responsibility to do so. An example of what I am saying it that I don't pay for half of the mortgage because I can't afford to. I pay for some of it just not 50%. DH covers the remaining amount.

Invisiblestepmom14's picture

I do get to cliam her on my taxes but the ex gets CS break for that and I do not qualify for the EIC because I am married and my DH makes good money.

^^^^What CS break does your ex get? My DH pay CS for 2 kids and she claims them on her taxes and we get no break on our taxes. I'm confused what break are you referring too?

In addition, we pay $1200+ a year to get kids to us for visitation and she pays nothing for that either.

Unhappy's picture

When the CO was written up that was put in it by the paralegal that I hired. He pays less in CS because I get to claim her on my taxes plus at the end of the year. It's pretty standard in my state. Now had he gotten to claim her at the end of the year he would be paying more in CS. Not much, but more.

baseballgirly's picture

I don't have kids. I have a boyfriend that has 2 kids that don't live with us. I'm not in any way trying to stir a pot.. but here is my issue with your post.

When single mothers throw in the cost of the "roof over her head or at least contrubute, bills such as water gas and electricity, food, clothes, the gas". These are all things your Ex still has to pay somewhere else! If your kid wasn't living with you, you would still have to pay all that! By yourself! With no child support whatsoever. How would you afford it then? (minus the clothes part)

Having a child live with you does not affect your mortgage payment, makes very minimal impact on gas, water or hydro. Basically, all you really need money for is food and clothes!

That said, you can hire a lawyer and go after him for more money since his job changed. Otherwise, it will come up for a "renewal" so to speak 3 years after the divorce.

Also... my SO pays child support similar to what your Ex does. (times 2). It is a HUGE amount for him to pay from our home too. So as much as you can use it.. remember....so can he.

baseballgirly's picture

I would also like to add... Once my SO finishes paying his child support, he doesn't have the money to take his kids to do fun stuff himself! Their mom gets to take his child support money and do fun stuff with them!

Invisiblestepmom14's picture

Yep! This ^^^^^ is the way it is at our house too! She gets to take them to concerts, baseball games, etc. We can afford to take them to a paint place once a year!

Unhappy's picture

Invisiblestepmom14, he hasn't seen her in over four months. He has suporvised visition at his mother's house, court ordered. He can't do any fun stuff with her nor does he care to do so.

Unhappy's picture

I would like for him to pay his portion of CS. Not so I can take his money and go and do fun stuff with her but so that I can actually have money left over for me to take her to fun stuff with the money that I make and it's not just fun stuff it could be putting that money away for an emergency for her such as an injury where she needs to go to the hospital.

Like I said before, you don't have kids. Your BF's kids don't even live with you so in my eyes you really have no clue what you are talking about. I don't want to drain his bank account I just want him to contribute what he should be contributing. I'm not asking for a $1000.00 a month and wouldn't take it if it was offered. That's way over board. What I am asking is that he help support her more and maybe want to see her every once in a while.

baseballgirly's picture

I know what I'm talking about. I'm just on the other end of the spectrum and telling you things you don't want to hear. *I had posted that add on at the same time. I didn't post a new one. No need to reiterate what you already said. I get it... I don't have kids, I'll never understand....

Wonder where I've heard that before!?!?

Unhappy's picture

Having a child live with you does not affect your mortgage payment, makes very minimal impact on gas, water or hydro. Basically, all you really need money for is food and clothes!

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I'm sorry but you don't have any kids of your own and your BF's kids don't live with you so how would you know what things cost when you have kids? Yes, having a child does affect things such as electricity (they never turn lights off leave doors open during winter and summer plus many other things) water (they need to bathe they drink water they flush tiolets leave water running play in it durring the summer) and gas(the house needs to be kept warmer for the kids during the winter time).

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These are all things your Ex still has to pay somewhere else!

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You would be correct. He does pay for those things as well. But CS is there to pay for your portion of what it costs to raise a child which means things like I named above. I understand that you don't have kids so you don't understand how expensive they actually are but maybe one day you will.

baseballgirly's picture

Correct, I don't have kids. Instead I have common sense.

That is all I will say.

Good luck getting more money.

Unhappy's picture

Common sense and knowing what you're talking about are two very different things.

An expample of what I'm talking about would be knowing that you shouldn't step out in front of a truck driving down the road. That would be common sense.

Talking about something that you know nothing about like what it takes to raise a child is not common sense. I'm not quite sure what it is actually. It would be like me talking about how to do an advanced calculus expression when I actually have no clue what I'm talking about.

Unhappy's picture

So as much as you can use it.. remember....so can he.

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He's running around doing drugs and drinking with his friends? That's what he uses the extra money for. So what you're saying is that instead of paying what he should to help raise his BD he should be able to take that extra money and run around buying coke, pot, and god knows what else with it? That makes no sense what so ever.

baseballgirly's picture

Neither does trying to say you deserve that money to put your kid in something you want to instead of him spending his money on what he chooses to. Why does his drug habit have anything to do with your child support?? What HE does with HIS money is HIS business. You never said he wasn't paying what he was originally supposed to. So he's not paying child support?? That's different.

Talk to your lawyer if you don't want other peoples opinion. You act mad that what I say isn't what you want to hear! Obviously it isn't. You and I are polar opposites! I see my SO bust his ass to pay child support terrified his EX is going to come after him for more if he so much as makes an extra dime on a paycheck! We can't afford to take them to extra curricular fun stuff because quite frankly we don't have the extra money after we pay our own bills. We have his kids every second weekend and 4 seperate weeks throughout the year. I honestly don't see much of any changes in any bills at those times. Although, please note I did say it does change it... just minimally. Especially one kid. With the cost of leaving one lightbulb on for a full year being roughly $84 a year... You can ask for more money.... or teach your kid how to save energy.

Weird how people agree with both of us, isn't it?? I guess you can tell who has the kids and who pays the Exes!

Unhappy's picture

Neither does trying to say you deserve that money to put your kid in something you want to instead of him spending his money on what he chooses to.

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You've missed the point completely. What I am saying * and let me just clear my throat here* is that if he were paying the amount he should be paying based off of his imcome it would leave me with MORE of MY money in order to be able to get her involved in other activities. I am not asking that he pay more so that he can pay for those things. You see the money that he would be paying would go towards her needs. The additional money that I wouldn't be spending to cover the portion that he's not paying would go towards other things for her that he is not obligated to pay. Am I making sense yet or do I have to try and explain it to you in another way becuase quite frankly I have no clue how to dumb it down any more than that.

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Why does his drug habit have anything to do with your child support?

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His drug habit is his own problem. My point is that he is obviously not living pay check to pay check. I'm not trying to break his bank account. I want him to pay what he is obligated to pay nothing more or nothing less. I don't want a huge amount in child support a month like some of these DH's have to pay a month.

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We can't afford to take them to extra curricular fun stuff because quite frankly we don't have the extra money after we pay our own bills.

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Bingo. We have a winner here. First off let me just say that you are deflecting your home situation on to this situation. Very different. I don't take my ex to court. I never have. He was supposed to show up at the custody hearing but apparently he had better things to do.

Secondly, after I'm done paying for 75% of raising our BD I have no money left over to do fun stuff with her. So technicall we're both in the same boat the rolls are just switched. Your BF busts his ass to pay child support which leaves you guys with no money for fun stuff just like how I bust my ass to pay for a majority of raising a child and have no money left over. You see we're not that different.

Frustr8d1's picture

Whaaaat?? Who wouldn't be mad after hearing, "Ex can use HIS money for drugs instead of spending it on his own child?" Damn, if a non-divorced biodad was spending money on drugs instead of his kids, everyone would be in an uproar...oh wait, that does happen all the time!

Bottom line is, CS is so uniquely different to every single situation that it's almost not worth spouting out CS opinions based on our own individual situation. It really does depend on what side of the fence you are getting fucked on when judging others' gripes!

For the record, I think all the gripes have much validity in their own way!

Unhappy's picture

Frustr8d1, she's just p!ssed about the comment I made about the difference between knowing what you're talking about versus commen sense. She'll get over it.

baseballgirly's picture

I'm not pissed at all. Just disagree, that's all.

It's the way blog posts and forums go. No one understands because everyone has a different situation. Words get skewed and people are offended.

Happened right from the start in this one and I bow out. Not worth fighting with strangers when we are supposed to all be here for the same common cause.

herewegoagain's picture

OK, wait. with two adults you paid 300USD a month in water, how can it go down to 175 without a kid? So two adults spend 175USD a month in and one 9yr old spends 125? No way. What exactly is the huge decrease? Showers & baths? Then you need to limit the time the kid spends in the shower/bath...drinking water? lol Laundry? If laundry, you need to figure out why a kid needs more water for their laundry than an adult. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Electricity went down 30%? What? So he spends 30% of your electricity with a different TV/computer/video games? Because the fridge has to be on anyways and so does the AC, which are the two items which consume the most energy.

You rent a home with an extra room because he must have his own room...so, does the other parent NOT have to do the same? Heck, if the other parent had the kid sleeping in their room, you'd be complaining just as many here do...they are expected by EVERYONE to have a separate room in their NCPs home and have the NCP pay for that extra room ALL YEAR long, but you think that the extra room in your home also should be paid by the NCP?

Precriptions, doctor's visits, etc...are NOT that much unless you have a very sick child. Otherwise, how often does this child go to the doctor? Heck, my kiddo has asthma, allergies and other issues and outside of his speech therapy, he doesn't go to the doctor every month or get a prescription every month. When that happens, it is just once about every 5 months if not less. Heck, he hasn't been to a doctor most of this year...his last visit I think was January...and once to the dentist this year.

Journey1982's picture

Herewegoagain....where I live water bills come once a quarter (not monthly). I have 2 teenagers who shower at least 3 times a day and change their clothes each time. The reason more water is used for laundry is because more loads of laundry needs to be done vs if it was just me and don't forget about washing more dishes too - boys each a lot :)! Regarding your comment that prescriptions and doctor visits are not that much, it depends on your health insurance and what your copays are for prescriptions and doctor visits. At one point I was taking my son to the hospital once every other month because he kept throwing out his shoulder playing sports. That was $100 for each visit not to mention the pain mends that cost $50 for each prescription. So each persons situation is different. Oh by the way, exh doesn't pay any child support and I'm thankful I can afford to pay all the bills. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

Frustr8d1's picture

Even though we have SD full time and BM pays a whopping $200/mo on occassion, I will say that it must feel pretty damn shitty to be on the other end and getting charged up the ASS for a CS amount that might be way more than enough. I mean, does a kid really require millions a month for CS from people like Tom Cruise?

Not trying to be controversial, just find the whole CS calculator kinda weird.

Unhappy's picture

Frustr8d1, I couldn't agree with you more on that. Some of the stories that hear on here about the amounts that SO, DH, BF is paying is insane. I don't want that. Just enough to cover 50% of the cost of raising a child.

My ex thought that he could just creat life and just walk away. Nope. Not going to happen. I have no problem taking on the role of a full time parent but he can at least pay what he should be paying to help support her.

Frustr8d1's picture

Oh, I know! Hope you don't think I was comparing the insane CS amount by "Maverick" to your situation. Not at all...I'm totally pissed about BM getting away with dropping her own child on someone else to take care of and providing no support herself! She has no idea the sacrifices of having a child full time.

Yes, your ex SHOULD be held accountable. It amazes me how many people get away with just walking away every single day. It's sick.

Unhappy's picture

I couldn't agree more with you on that one. It's sad really. The only person that gets hurt by that being done are the kids and we're left to pick up the pieces. I am dreading the day when my BD asks why daddy doesn't want to see her. He'll request visitation and then just not show up. It's heart breaking really. doesn't even call her to let he know. He just isn't there.

Frustr8d1's picture

It's extremely irritating when you are taking care of ANY child full-time (bio or step) and not getting any help from the other parent. We have SD9 full time and her BM does NOTHING to help with finances or even spending time with her! So, we are completely overwhelmed with 100% of the responsibility. Every time incidentals come up (outside of normal bills) like extra school supplies, fundraisers, need new clothes, and even buying gifts for friends' birthday parties....I just get so pissed that the other parent isn't helping to pay for all that.

So, regardless whether your perspective is that of a BM, SM, DH, or whatever. It plain sucks to have complete 100% responsibility for a child. :?

3familiesIn1's picture

I wish - sigh. I spent on back to school clothing, supplies and PTO contributions (yes I could have skipped the contributions) for my 2 bios AND backfilled all the missing stuff for SD12 AND clothing for SS7 - $450.

Now, my XH is not required to pay for my skids of course, but he didn't donate a penny towards his bios back to school anything -he doesn't pay any CS either (yes I could take him to court but that is a whole post in itself) and I think DH paid BM extra cash to cover the skids and she pocketed it.

Do.not.get.me.started.

Frustr8d1's picture

We told BM during the summer that SHE should go get SDs school clothes since she has never in her life done so. What does SD come back with?? A cheesy-ass booty sweatsuit and 2 cheap Wal-mart shirts. And she probably stole them. Wow, those will last all year... :?

Peaches1973's picture

Absolutely right.I raised 2 bios for 10 years on my own with no CS,my BF has 4 kids,he gets no help financialy from BM.We both have all kids FT so we are 100% financialy responsible.Extras? No fucking way.Our kids dont get to do anything extra or fun because we can barely cover the basics.
We are both just happy that we have full custody because both BP are losers as you can see.
Get this-my skids BM gets the kids for only 2 months in the summer.She asked my BF for $ to take the kids to the movies while they were with her and asked him to help pay for their summer camp....dafuq?? And he did it of course cause he didnt want the kids to not have fun.
What gets me the most pissed about the whole thing is that we suffer for being the responsible ones,those two (the womb donor and the sperm donor) get to come and go as they please,live their own lives and only have to worry about themselves.Makes me wanna :sick:

Frustr8d1's picture

Peaches1973, SD9's BM did the SAME thing to us over summer break! BM has been able to party, date, (steal, lie, get convicted of 3 felonies lol), enjoy her freedom to come & go whenever it's convenient for her. And we are stuck full-time taking on all the time, emotional, & financial burdens.

I told DH before summer that BM will not get one ounce of help from us during her pathetic 8 week visit. We don't even get help from her with unpaid medical/dental bills.

Uuuuuuggg

momof3vt's picture

I am a BM and SM so I see both sides of the equation on a lot of things. I get CS and my DH pays CS to his EX. CS is intended to pay for expenses for the child so their life doesn't significantly change. When you are divorced, you still have to have a roof over your head and a car to drive. I also don't see how kids can significantly impact utility bills. I have three kids in the house. When we were away for two weeks this summer and noone was here, our utility bills were not much different than when we are all here. CS is to help pay for the extra food required to feed them and their clothes on their backs. Sometimes it also includes daycare expenses and other special needs. Unless the child was participating in a sport or activity before the divorce that would warrant the expense being mentioned possibly in the CO for the parents to split. Otherwise the pee wee baseball and 4H you mention are extras and not necesisties. You can try to talk to you EX when activities such as this come up to see if he is willing to pay half or if you pay one if he will pay the other. No parent has the right to sign their child up for a bunch of activities without consulting the other and then just assume it is the other parents responsibility to pay. I always check with my ex and most of the time he helps me out. If he chooses not to, then I decide whether or not I want to do it on my own. My DH ex on the other hand, signs SD up for everything under the sun without consulting anyone. However, she knows that was her choice and we don't pay. You also want to pick your battles. You don't want to be going to court all the time for every little thing. That is only stressful for you, can be costly and quite honestly over time can cause such tension between you and your ex that it definately would not be good for your daughter.

Unhappy's picture

momof3vt, I disagree. Kids are freaking expensive and the point of CS os that the parent paying is contributing what they would have been contributing if the two were still together. That would be 50%.

The pee wee league and the 4H are things that I want to pay for with my money but I can't because I'm covering the additional costs that he should be paying based off of what he know makes.

My ex would never agree to paying for anything additional he hasn't seen her in over four months. He doesn't care about her. He would rather take the money that he should be spending in CS and go and buy drugs with it. You have to understand that I caught this guy holding a piece of pot up under her nose when she was six weeks old. He has serious addiction probles hence the suporvised visition.

Siferra's picture

Unhappy -

I don't know what folks are getting all riled up about - you're not asking to take him to the cleaners or disable his ability to have fun. You just want him to pay what he should be paying.

In our state you can modify after every major life change, like a new job. Shouldn't be too hard to process. He may balk a bit, but if he is making more then yes, he should be paying more.

Unhappy's picture

Thank you Siferra. Finally someone actually read the meaning of my post. I don't plan on destroying him financailly I just want him to contribute what he's supposed to. I wasn't trying to get extra money out of him when he was only making 11/hour. In fact I told him that if they took to much that I would give him some back. I want him to be able to survive too.

Unhappy's picture

Confused68,

I am hearing the magical sound of angels singing right now. Thank you. How some people can freak out about this thread I have no clue. You would think I titled it, "I'm going to send my ex to the poor house." Lol. Really people. I'm not going to hurt him financially. He may not be able to buy all of the drugs he wants but if anything I think that's doing him a favor. Maybe he'll sober up realize what a sh!t parent he is and want to actually spend some time with her.

herewegoagain's picture

So, if you can live in a 1000sq ft home and pay 200USD a month in electricity, but then decide to move to a 4000sq ft home and pay 800USD a month in eletricity, the additional expense should be paid by the NCP for electricity or housing? No, you make a choice where you want to live and you are responsible for that. I understand that there is "some" extra expense, but it should not be 50% because you CHOOSE to live in a place that is more expensive, because you CHOOSE to have a much bigger home, etc...and again, you can ask your ex to pay 50% when you ALSO contribute 50% AND also support yourself with at least 50% of the bills...But as always, the NCP has to pay 100% of THEIR bills, the CP that is remarried can't even pay 50% of their own bills and yet the NCP is expected to pay 50% of the kid's bills? Talk about a double standard.

smdh's picture

CS is to cover expenses like mortgage, utilities, food, clothing, etc. It isn't wrong for unhappy to expect her ex to cover his share of those costs and the courts / cs calculations DO take into account that he got a raise. Yes she would still have those bills if she didn't have her kid, but she would also maybe have a smaller place, and yes utitlies ARE affected. Ours definitely are.

I have no problem with cs if the mother is ALSO contributing and UnHappy is. She isn't asking him to pay "extra", she is simply saying her daughter should benefit from his better job, just like she would if they were still married. It isn't the job of ONE parent to support the child they had together. If he had expenses related to this child in his care, I might feel differently, but he doesn't. He doesn't need an apartment big enough for his daughter to have her own room because he has supervised visitation. he doesn't take the kid on vacation or buy her clothes. In fact, I believe his visitation is at his mother's house so he has NO expenses related to this kid. He should be paying his support.

And I am speaking as a woman who sees her dh shell out $1000 a month in cs while that child's mother sits on her ass slamming us on Fb all day long and the kid is here 50% of the time. Yes, her ex has a life and his own "desires" to spend money on. So does she, but she is spending it on her kid. Kudos to her.

As for her wanting another child? Irrelevent. Her dh can help her support another child. A child they will share. How hypocritical to suggest that the father shouldn't have to give up his money to support their child because "he deserves a life too" and then suggest that she not be allowed to pursue her life because she is picking up his slack. How is that different than the women on here being pissed because they can't get things for their children because their dh PAYS cs. Not getting cs is just as shitty as having to pay it when you're the only person supporting the kids.

UnHappy, I think you can file to modify before 3 years is up if you can prove there has been a significant change in circumstances, which includes a significant pay increase / decrease by either party.

Unhappy's picture

smdh, very well put. Thank you. Even though I don't really care about getting slammed by the other posters. I know why I'm doing it that's why I asked if it was possible in the original post. I knew that there would people on here deflecting their own frustrations of there situation onto this one when it has nothing to do with what I was originally asking.

smdh's picture

I don't think most of the posters are being intentionally hypocritical or hurtful. Being in a step situation sucks and ALL of us have opinions largely based on our situations. Those who have it good seem to think some of us are too hard on our skids. Those who pay ridiculous amounts of cs and are still expected to pay for a lot of extras are immediately going to get defensive on this issue. Can't blame them. They have a right to be pissed. It is very hard to keep an open mind and really understand another person's point of view in emotionally charged situations. Throw in the fact that there are a few people stirring the pot and everyone gets edgy.

I learned a long time ago that life is too short to worry too much with the disagreement. I state my point. I back it up with why I feel that way and if that isn't enough for someone, then I assume they have a problem they're working through and can't see past it OR their life has been charmed in a way that mine hasn't!

llenyaj's picture

I speak from my experience as an accountant to say this: long haul drivers don't necessarily make much money. After making the payments on their truck, the diesel, the tolls, the weighs, the showers, the truck washes and eating on the road, all while being gone from their home about 80% of the year, there isn't much left over. The expenses are very high.
I speak from my experience as a thrifty-momma with a DH that pays CS for his two older children...eh, kids don't cost THAT much. I understand water bills and clothes and stuff, but there is no way on earth that our expenses for our BD together even come close to touching what he pays in CS to BM. The skids have their step dad that they've called "daddy" for 8 years now, and my DH by his first name. They get the tax breaks, we have to threaten for visitation or bribe with trips and fun stuff. I decided years ago, after seeing how the CS game is played, that if DH and I ever imploded, I wouldn't ask for CS. That's just how I see it, not picking on anyone.
That said, 3k a year is pretty cheap. Since he's not interested in actually seeing the kid or contributing, maybe you could just get him to give up his rights.

doll faced sm's picture

I imagine, as with most careers, you get out what you put in. My father lives on a farm w/ his brother, SIL, and nephew and his family. My dad is a long haul truck driver and nets >$75k/yr. He just plunked down $40k for a round baler and some other pieces of equip. for the farm. His employer reimburses him for travel related expenses due to the truck (gas, break-downs, tolls, weigh stations), but not for expenses relating directly to him (showers, food, etc.) as they pay a per Diem to him to cover those expenses. But, most importantly, the courts in most cases do not consider the take home (net) pay; they're interested in the pay before taxes and expenses (gross).

doll faced sm's picture

Unhappy,

Google "Office of Child Support Enforcement" for the county you live in. Even if it's called something different, it should come up in the search results. Open a case with them. If you are not receiving any form of welfare (food stamps, wic, tanf, etc.), they will probably ask you to pay a nominal fee to process your case. In AR, I had to pay $20 in 2001, in CO, I had to pay $100 in 2012; either way, it's much cheaper than having to hire an attorney. However, it is also slower in most cases. Anyway, when you open the case, simply explain that you are looking for a CS modification based on a change in circumstances - you need to make it a point to say this, otherwise, they'll assume it's just to collect CS that's in arrears; whereas, a modification requires additional paperwork that they'll need to give you. Turn in your paperwork and wait.

-OR-

If you can afford it and would prefer a faster option, hire an attorney.

herewegoagain's picture

I enjoy mostly the "how can I get more" with no specifics. So, if you want some sympathy as to why you TRULY need more, be honest here...

I get 100USD a month in CS. I work and make 400USD a month and spend 50% of my check on my child. My ex needs to give me more. Because honestly, just because you claim to need more and that you spend so much, doesn't mean it is true.

I DO believe 100% that there is not a single woman here that would tell you that you were wrong if you made 30K a year, spent 15K on your kid and your ex paid you 50USD a month in CS. But if you don't work, or make 7USD an hour, your ex pays you 300USD a month and you want him to pay you 500USD a month, while you only contribute 100USD to the kid, we will all tell you that YOU are wrong.

And again, you stated you were not going to have a kid with your now husband/boyfriend, whatever...that was in one of your posts. You were wanting to have another kid and were trying to figure out how much in food it would cost you per month additional...lol So, if you don't even know that, how can you say that you already spend X on your kid? You don't really know how much you spend on the kid at all.

Unhappy's picture

herewegoagain, that's a pretty simple answer. You take the total amout of the cost going out of the house for needs and divide that amount by the amount of dependents in the house. Then you take the number that you came up with for my BD and it's almost 9K a year for the needs. (DH and I sat down and figured this out last night).

Now you take the just over 3K my ex is paying, subtract the amost 500 that he should be additionaly paying a year because her medical insurance jumped up and we are supposed to split that cost 50/50 and I am now covering, and he is paying less then 3K a year for the cost of raising a child.

herewegoagain's picture

The more people talk, the more the truth comes out...so here you go:

1st
"My ex has gotten a new job after we split where he went from making 11/hour to driving long haul making significantly more."
"What I am asking is that he help support her more and maybe want to see her every once in a while."

++++ so based on the fact that he makes MORE money now, you want to benefit from that and get MORE CS...HOWEVER, the fact that he makes more money now is based on the fact that he drives long haul now, which means probably longer work hours, less time at home and yet you ALSO want him to see your kid more...You can't have it both ways. He makes more because he has a job that requires him to be out of town/in the streets longer that means you get more CS, but he WILL have less time to spend with his kid. If you would rather him spend MORE time with his kid, you can also tell him "get a job that pays you less, so you can stay in town and spend more time with your kid"...but really, I doubt that is what you really want. You want the higher income that comes from him having the new job, but not the sacrifice of having your kid in your care more.

2nd
An example of what I am saying it that I don't pay for half of the mortgage because I can't afford to. I pay for some of it just not 50%. DH covers the remaining amount.

++++no, your DH makes MORE money than you and YOU can't pay 50% because you don't make much...why is it your kid's 50%...If two adults live in a home, then technically that mortgage should be split 50/50. If you can't afford your 50% and your DH wants to pay for more because he wants to support you, fine. But don't blame it on the kid or your ex. He is supporting YOUR 50%.

Unhappy's picture

herewegoagain, girl you are angry today and way off based on this one.

So here we go, he does drive truck and I sure that he works long hours but when he is in town he can see her whenever he wants.

He'll send a text asking to see her on x,y, and z days that week to which I let him know that it's good with me and then he just never shows up. He has been doing this to her for the last over four months. He doesn't even call her to let he know that he's not going to show up. You see, he is an addict. I don't know if you have ever delt with anbody like that, but they're pretty unreliable people.

As for you second statement, I could afford to pay for 50% of the mortgage if I wasn't having to cover more of the cost for my BD. If my ex is paying what he should be paying I would have more of the money that I earned left over and would be able to pay for other things.

herewegoagain's picture

dupe

herewegoagain's picture

What I find ironic is that most of the ones claiming that the NCP doesn't pay 50% of the bills for their kids, don't pay 50% of their household bills themselves because "they don't make as much as their DH". So for some odd reason the NCP must pay 50% (which I believe they are if not much more than the TRUE costs of the child) and yet they as adults can't even pay for 50% of THEIR OWN expenses.

Unhappy's picture

Actually Here, I do pay for my share of the mortgage now that I think about it. My DH and I share a room, my BD has her own room, and his two kids have their own rooms as well. Which means that what I pay in the mortgage every month would cover my BD and I living in the house (which is two people) and the additional amount that he pays would cover him, SS, and SD (which is three people). I actuall give DH $550 a month towards the mortgage, which technically covers half. I pay for my cell bill and the other bills are kind of a wash because I pay for all of the groceries except for dinners, which DH pays for. I do know our house hold bills are higher then what I pay in groceries every month but that's where I don't make enough to contribute, but seeing as how I am over paying on the mortgage since I am only paying for two people we can add the difference of that to the bills. Not that I don't do other things, like all of the house work on the weekends, laundry, and everything else that goes along with that.

herewegoagain's picture

So in REAL numbers, you state you don't want 1K a month in CS...he must be paying somewhere around 300USD+a month...that means, if there are TWO parents for this kid and you feel that each of you should pay 50% you must be contributing at least 300USD+ each month. So you need MORE than 600USD a month to take care of ONE child?

Sorry, you sound just like my DHs ex. When she got 260USD per month, which she should contribute another 50% to, she claimed 520USD a month wasn't enough to raise a child...so she got 450USD a month and that means she should contribute 50% (just like everyone here seems to think that each parent should be responsible for 50%), so that means that she still could not support a child with 900USD a month...So then it was 600USD a month, again, based on what all the CPs here claim, a father should pay 50%, then they as mother should also pay 50%, which is then 1200USD a month for the living expenses of a CHILD...and yet, that was STILL not enough because it didn't cover all the extras...that's just food and water and shelter...really?

smdh's picture

Sharing the cost doesn't mean 50% from each parent. UnHappy works full-time. She contributes and yes CS IS to pay for housing, etc. At least a portion of it. CS calcs differ by state, but in our state it is based on income shares, so my dh is expected to contribute way more than 50% - like 85% EVEN THOUGH HE HAS THE CHILD 50% OF THE TIME - he gets a small reduction for that. And in our case since McCrazy has chosen to not work he actually pays 100%. Our state thinks that based on my dh's income ONE child should receive more than $1500 a month in support.

Yes, the child should benefit when one parent gets a raise - according to the state. They would benefit if the parents were still married. At no point does unhappy suggest that her ex should pay 50% or that she is looking to move into a bigger house, etc. She simply thinks he should be on the hook to support HIS and HER child at a level commesurate with his wages. And since he almost never sees this kid and is not required to spend any money on her when he does see her - supervised visitation at his mother's house, he really isn't contributing much to her care.

I understand why you're upset herewego. I think it is ridiculous that cs amounts are so high. And I think it is sad that a lot of the BMs in our cases take gross advantage of our situations so they can be lazy assholes who expect the dad's to pay both their shares, but in this case - given all of the facts - I don't think Unhappy is being unreasonable.

StickAFork's picture

So if your DH got a raise, he'd go running to the CS office to modify to pay more?
I think not.

smdh's picture

Do you actually read my posts? My dh is already paying 100% of the care of his kid. His ex doesn't work. My dh is her only source of income. We have the kid 50% of the time. He pays $1000 a month in cs, all the health and dental insurance ($350 a month - just for SD), co-pays, deductibles, school lunches ($40 a month), extra- curriculars ($75 a month year round + $130 a week for camp in the summer). Throw in the food she wastes everyday, utilities and the cost of housing her and she costs us roughly $2000 a month. She also has a full wardrobe and enough toys and gadgets in our home to fulfill full-time status. So no, my dh would not run to have his support increased, but you can bet your pretty ass that his ex would be there filing for modification.

Unhappy's situation is different. I really don't understand the hypocrisy on this site. If a SM came on here and said she couldn't afford another child because her dh was PAYING cs we'd all be supportive, but Unhappy should not consider having another child with her dh because lowlife ex shouldn't have to help her support THEIR child? Her dh isn't responsible to help with her child. He would help with a child they had together.

How many posts on here have I read that say that the dh shouldn't pay MORE support because cs covers basic needs like health insurance, housing, utilities, clothes, etc. and yet when somone needs the support to cover those basics the story changes and kids aren't that expensive? The government disagrees with all of you. And that is all that matters. Does her daughter cost as much as she claims? I have no idea. But I do know that the cs calculations consider those basics should be split by two parents (usually according to income). He doesn't provide any of them in his care and should provide some of it in Unhappy's care. Period.

Unhappy's picture

herewegoagain, he pays less then $300.00 a month and the cost of living is different depending on where you live.

You need to take a chill pill. This is not a personal attack on you. It was a simple question. If you don't like the idea of me wanting to increase CS to benifit my BD then that's fine, but you really shouldn't be so angry about this thread. If you don't like what I have to say then don't read it. I mean you just posted like eight posts in a row. Don't you think that's a bit much. You could have always just edited to you original post to reflect your new angry statement.

Unhappy's picture

spousalunity, I'm not sure if your telling me what happened to you or where this is coming from. I have never been a home maker. I have always worked. My state is not like that and if it's 50/50 custody then I wouldn't expect him to pay for anything because he would be taking care of 50% of her needs.

Further more, I think that your state would be singing a different tune when a parent is considered a danger to a child. Sh!t the state that I live in almost put out an Amber alert for my BD when my ex took off with her. He then proceeded to drive her back home drunk.

hatinthis31's picture

Heres my story....we are still paying the same amount of cs even with ss18 being 18 now..they havent taken him off so apparently we have to do that "in front of a judge" which costs a little $ that we dont have at the moment...sd is 15 and bm made the comment before ss turned 18 that she wouldnt be losing anything when he turned 18 cause they wouldnt lower it for sd15..if anything they will raise it because the original amount was set 12yrs ago and BM and DH both make more $ now..so DH is afraid to go for modification thinkin it will go up..he pays ALOT as it is..if it goes up then it will be hard on us! AND for the record BM and sD15 live well and i totally agree that ppl should pay cs but the courts need to be fair..every situation is different..

Unhappy's picture

hatinthis31, I agree with you 100%. The courts need to be fair. I am not asking for his entire paycheck. I just want him to pay what he is obligated to pay to support his BD. I have 100% responsibility of everything for her.

Jsmom's picture

You are not going to like my answer either. I think you need to not have another child until you can provide better for the first. If he is paying, that is enough. You have to wait three years for a reason. It is to stop stuff like this. He is earning more money and it is up to him how he wants to spend it.

You should look at other ways to earn some extra money or ask him to help. It is up to him if he wants to especially if the courts consider it a gift.

Otherwise, wait until the three years is up and ask for the evaluation.

StickAFork's picture

This.
You say you pay 75% of your daughter's expenses. If he's paying $250 a month (3K year) then you think your daughter costs $1000 A MONTH to support?
Hell, my daughter's ONE activity is $685 a month, and I'd be hard pressed to say I spend $1000 on her support every month.

Just because he got a better paying job doesn't mean you should go running for an adjustment.
And you should most definitely wait until you can afford yet another child before having one, imo.

Unhappy's picture

StickAFork, my DH and I sat down last night and added up all of the figures of what the cost for spliting the mortgage per dependent in the house, food, electricity water, water, haircuts, and everything else that goes along with paying for a childs needs. We came up with close to 9K a year.

Now I am paying for the increase in her medical insurance which is close to 500 a year. My ex is paying just over 3K a year in CS. Now subtract the almost 500 from the just over 3K and now it's less than 3K. Now subtract that from the almost 9K a year and I am paying significantly more then my ex is and I'm making mush less money then he is.

I am not asking for a $1000.00 dollars a month. Just that he contribute more since he's making more.

StickAFork's picture

So, he gets a raise = you get a raise??

How does the ENTIRE insurance increase get attributed to him? "Now subtract the almost 500 from the just over 3K and now it's less than 3K." You'd subtract $250, his HALF.

Holy crap, you spend $750 a month on this kid? Look, I blow a TON of money on my kids. (No CS.) I live one of the most expensive areas of the country. I have 3 kids in my home right now...so that would be $2250 just so they can LIVE? NOT including the extras???
WTF. I KNOW my kids (all teens) don't eat and use THAT much water!

Unhappy's picture

The 500 is his half and I live in a very expensive area as well.

Bottom line, he is obligated to pay a certain portion of what he makes based off of his income. I know that you raised your kids without CS and that's great for you. I am contributing more to raising our child then he is. Per our state CS code, CS is factored based on what that parent would be contributing towards the kid(s) if the couple were still together. I don't want to take him to the cleaners. I want him to pay what he should be paying.

Unhappy's picture

Jsmom, there is no asking him for anything additional. And I do want to have another child with my now DH. He has a good job and makes good money. It's not that we together can't afford to have a child, I just don't exepct my now DH to pay for what my ex should be taking care of. I am in the process of looking for another job but I live in a right to work state where the wages suck big time. With the job that I'm doing now I should be making around 60K a year. Not in this state. I don't make anywhere close to that.

Unhappy's picture

whoanelly, I couldn't agree with you more. If I had 50/50 custody with my ex I wouldn't ask for a penny. He would be providing for her 50% of the time. To me it would be immoral.

But in my situation I have my BD 100% of the time. I am her caregiver, her nurse when she gets hurt, her emotional support when she's sad, her protecter when she feels threatened, and her rock. Other then the CS that I receive from my ex, he contributes nothing. He doesn't visit with her. He blows her off when he says he's going to be there and then I'm left picking up the pieces. I have never bad mouthed him to her because I don't believe in doing that. I figure eventually it will dawn on her just exactly who he is. I am worried about how her father abandoning her will affect her when she gets older.

Unhappy's picture

whoanelly, I am not punishing him for walking away. In my eyes if he doesn't sober up he would probably be doing more harm then good by visiting her. I had something specifically written in to the CO that if he goes and gets a drug and alcohol assesment and follows through with what they recomend and then stays sober after that we would work on moving to a 50/50 custody. Obviously it would all be done in baby steps. Even when I went to court for custody the judge wanted to do supervised visitation through the state and couldn't understand why I wanted it at his mother's house instead. I had to expain to him many many times that he wouldn't be able to see her that much based on his income at the time if he had to do that. I was able to get the judge to finally side with me.

My ex wouldn't be willing to work with me on anything. After I moved in with DH he quit paying his support that we agreed upon which is less then he was paying now because I wanted him to be able to survive after the support he paid for his BD. I eventuall had to have his wages garnished in order to get him to pay through the state.

As far as pride, believe me I've got that. I had to take on the full responsibility of my BD to make sure that nothing happened to her. He was doing things like drinking and driving with her in the care, smoking pot around her, bringing her to parties with his friends. There was even one incident that she told me about whe she was 5. He had a really bad ant problem, she had no room, she slept on the couch out in the living room with him. One night she needed to get up and go to the bathroom but she was too afraid to get up. She told me that hopped from one piece of furniture to the next because she was afraid to walk on the floor. Apprently there wasn't enough furniture for her to get to the bathroom so she just pooped her pants instead. Please, don't tell me to have some pride. I have done the best that I can do for my BD and pride has nothing to do with it.

stormabruin's picture

I don't think it's wrong to request a change in CS if you need it. If the amount is based on income (it is in our state as well) have it redone.

IMO, both parents need to be held accountable for contributing to the child/ren they made together.

If you need to request a change, file at the courthouse.

That said, if you're in a position of needing an increase to provide for the child you already have, I hardly see any responsibility behind plans for having another one... :?

Unhappy's picture

Storm, between my DH and myself, we can provide for another child. My DH makes good money so that's a non issue. I don't expect for my DH to pick up the slack for my ex even though he does sometimes.

Unhappy's picture

He does pay child support. He is obligated to pay more. I would be more than willing to work something out with him outside of court but he would be completely unwilling to do anything like that. Which means if I have to go through the court they will take whatever percentage the deem fit and give it to our BD. I would rather work with him on it but what can I do when he is not willing to.

Unhappy's picture

I would love to be able to work something out between him and I. I don't want a $1000.00 a month in CS. What I would like from him is for him to support his BD more. If he chooses to sober the eff up and work towards shared custody I'm all for it. It this going ot happen? Sadly, probably not. He does not split the costs of raising a child 50/50 with me. (This is in reference to people who have shared custody.)

I really don't understand why evrybody is freaking out about this. You'd think that I was out to destroy him with some of these posts. That is not my intention at all. In fact DH and I have been talking about trying to see in the next couple of years if he will be willing to give up his parentlal rights. (The reason being, he would not be willing to do it at this point in time. He is still angry at me that I moved on and if I have to hear him tell me to go and choke on a d!ck again I'll b!tch slap his a$$ through the phone.) It scares the crap out of me to think that if anything were to happen to me that he would get custody of her.

What gets me about most of the posts is if you read some of my responses I have done nothing but bend over backwards to accomadate him. When I knew he couldn't afford state visitation I pushed for the visitation to be at his mother's house. When we first seperated I made sure that he could afford to live after he paid the amount that we agreed upon in monthly CS. I made it a point when they finally started garnishing his wages for CS and back CS to go down to health and welfare and ask how much additional they were taking because I still wanted him to be able survive. I am not a greedy BM. I have done nothing but try and be very accomadating and easy to work with. It's not about my dislike of him. It's about our BD and in the end she has always come first to me. I have never said a bad word about him to her. When she asks why she can't go to his house, I just tell her that daddy has things he has to work on first. I don't tell her that her father is a drug addict loser, which is the truth.

This is how is though. He is a giant child. Instead of working with me he would probably tell me go eff myself and then pay the additional amount the state would make him pay by choice and mentally be thinking about how he slammed me because he got to insult me. And by choice I mean instead of being an adult and wanting to support his BD more he would want to act like a 16 year old that wants their way constantly and is willing to suffer any consequence to get it. (Just using that as an example. Please do not take it the wrong way.) It would be like if I asked him if he wanted to pay for half of a sport that she wanted to play. He either wouldn't respond or would respond with name calling.

You see the roles are reversed in this situation. I hear all the time about BM's texting their ex's curse words and not being cooperative in the slightest way. This is the way my ex is with me. I have taken on the full responsibility of raising our BD willingly because he is unwilling do even an EOWD and would rather pretend he's still 21 and party with his friends and then he turns around treats me like crap and his BD for that matter. If anything, I'm helping him live the life that he wants. No responsibilities just partying.

Unhappy's picture

Thanks whoanelly. I feel the same way about a lot of the posts as well. I know that people are reacting from their own experiences. They are not used to dealing with a cooperative BM who actully wants their ex to spend time the kid(s). I can't tell you how many times I have sent my ex texts letting him know how bad he is hurting her, that he only has so much time before she just won't care whether or not he's around anymore, and to not punish her by denying his attention because he's mad at me (which he doesn't even realize he's doing because he thinks that he's punishing me). It does not good though. He can't think about anybody but himself. He's been this way for over the last 8 years that I have known him.

What's truly sad is in his quest to try and hurt me because I have moved on he's only hurting her. I'm worried about the emotional effects that this will have on her when she gets older. Thankfully DH treats her just like one of his own. I just don't know if that's going to be enough to ward off the emotional damage that's being done.

DH actually tried to call him the other day and sent him some texts wanting to get together. My ex refuses to meet him and hasn't since DH and I have been together. DH wanted to sit down with him and explain to him everything that he's missing out on. My ex never responded. I guess DH should be thankful for that. I would rather have no response then some of the ones that I've gotten in the past and will continue to receive in the future.