Child Support Questions
1) How much does your spouse pay for child support per child? Is it a percentage of his/her income or what is it based on? What are the rules regarding child support? Does it have to do with how much time each parent has the children? I have no idea because my husband and his xw havn't gone through court. He just pays what he can and also helps her out with her business in order to help her make more money to support them.
2) If you work, do you (as the stepparent) contribute some of your income? How much? Does your so expect you to? Are you legally obligated to? I'm pretty sure (hoping) I will eventually make (a lot) more money than dh. I want to contribute, but not sure what would be fair to both them and myself?
3) Do either of you pay cs for children 18 or older? I have a SD18, who is now pregnant, and lives with her mom and boyfriend and I'm wondering how much is fair to contribute for an 18 year old. I certainly could not have supported myself at that age, but she is legally an adult and made her own choice to get pregnant.
4) In addition to paying cs, do you and/or so also pay for additional expenses that come up? Our/their arrangment is very loose. He pays what he can, though he does pay regularly. Neither of them/us have any money really. When extra things come up, he helps out, though I'm sure she pays much more than he does. I think she has them about 62% of the time, and we have them 38% of the time
Everyone CS situation is
Everyone CS situation is different because most CS is decided by the courts and each state has their own regulations for CS. When I first meet my DH, he paid $440/month for 2 kids. Which was $220/child and about 50% of my DH's income. Since then, DH & I have obtained custody of one of his daughters. They were going to let the courts decide on the new amount DH was going to pay for the other child who still lives with BM, but BM & DH came to an agreement and had the courts enter their agreement. So now my DH pays $175/month. (Which I personally don't think is fair, since they each have a child. But who am I to decide what happens. BM is greedy.) As far as me helping financially with my Skids...I don't work and even when I did, I did not help pay the CS. That is my DH's responsibility, not mine. Now I did buy things for my SDs, so I guess I did support them a little bit. But in a different way. As far as the 18 or older thing...none of my SDs are that old. But I do know that my DHs CS stops when they turn 18, unless they go to college. Then it is 21. And as far as additional expenses...it depends on what it is. Most of the time, DH tells BM no b/c that is what the CS is for. To pay for things for SD. Hope that helps.
In our state there is a
In our state there is a table that shows what $ of combined parental income is expected to go to the child. That amount is than pro-rated based on each parent's earning capacity. In cases of 50/50 custody, the party with more income gets a 20% break. SOOOO, even though we have 50/50 court ordered custody, and actually have Creature 75% of the time because her retarded mother took a second shift job, we pay $900 per month for ONE child who lives here most of the time. Fair, huh? AND when alimony ends in 32 months, she'll get $400 MORE per month in cs. $1300 a month for a kid she sees 8 days.
In our state sparents income is not included in the calculation.
"A pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist counts on the wind changing, a realist adjusts his sails"
CS is not a consistent
CS is not a consistent situation. There are several variables. Custody, % parenting time, income or both parents, court of jurisdiciton (community), and probably most important .....did the judge get laid the night before your court date?
In answer to your questions:
1. Our Son's (my SS) BioDad pays $385/Mo which is 21% of his income. He pays nothing else. Though he is legally responsible for half of any medical expenses not covered by insurance he has not paid a dime of that in 16yrs and now owes us ~ $6000.00.
2. Our Son (my SS) lives with us so of course I contribute to his support. I am his Dad and he has access to the benefits of my income. However, I am not legally obligated to contribute other than to provide for his best interest, health and welfare when he is in my (our) home. As the Non Custodial StepParent I would not contribute crap if I was you. If your DH pays CS then that should be all he pays other than half of any med expenses not covered by insurance.
3. My SS will receive CS until age 21 if he is a full time college student. However, in the case of your pregnant 18yo SD ....... IMHO she should be on her own and you nor your DH should support her. She is an adult, she can prosper or fail on her own efforts.
4. My SS's BioDad pays nothing for discretionary extras and we don't care if he does or not. Other than another point for me gloat over my obviouse superiority to his worthless ass.
Best regards,
Success is rarely final. Failure is rarely fatal. It is character, courage and consistency of effort that count. Vince Lombardi (with some minor Rags modifications) To each according to their performance, screw Karl Marx. (Rags)
step kids are all giant
step kids are all giant leaches
step dtr lived in a house we
step dtr lived in a house we gave her, she and hubby bought a new home, the other got sold they got 100% of the profit, then I get death threats on cell from step dtr
And that is why I treat
And that is why I treat Creature like I would treat a slot machine at a casino. I only "give" what I can afford to LOSE.
"A pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist counts on the wind changing, a realist adjusts his sails"
anyone who saves on college
anyone who saves on college for kids? and if how much is in the college fund? how do you communicate college expenses with the kid (regarding BM also needs to chip in)?
I saved $ for my 3 bio kids
I saved $ for my 3 bio kids from their CS, my 2 SD's, well they ended up pregnant in highschool, ran away and lived with boyfriends, and dropping out of the 9th grade, I guess 3 times was a charm for the 9th grade. BM's never seem to do ANYTHING, even to benefit their own kids, it must be written in their DNA to be total losers. Save for your own! After 20 years I have learned the hard way, even if you help steps, unless you have raised them to achieve something in life, you will be throwing your money away :}
We have always considered
We have always considered our Son's (my SS's) college costs in our investment strategies. However, we have not saved specifically for his college. We have also communicated regularly to him that if he lets BioDad off of the hook for college for any reason then he looses the equivelent amount from us also. BioDad is liable to pay CS until SS is age 21 if SS is a full time college student. The issue is that when SS turns 18 the CS quits going to my wife and goes directly to SS. CS is currently $380/mo.
So, if SS forgives BioDad for CS he not only looses BioDad's $380/Mo in CS, he looses the same amount from his Mom and I.
The SpermClan has already pushed the guilt perspective on SS periodically over the years with the "we can't afford nice things for your sibs because we have to pay CS on you"......... guilt trip.
I am sure once SS is out of HS and turns 18 the pressure will be high and constant for him to forgive BioDad's CS obligation.
Best regards,
Success is rarely final. Failure is rarely fatal. It is character, courage and consistency of effort that count. Vince Lombardi (with some minor Rags modifications) To each according to their performance, screw Karl Marx. (Rags)