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Bonus Income in Child Support Calculations & Collecting Debt Money

strugglingSM's picture
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BM in my life regularly rattles the CS modification cage when she feels like she's not getting enough extra money from DH.

Her extra requests are for things like clothes that should be covered by child support (she also refuses to send any clothes with the children when they come to our house) or things like sports gear where the line is a little less clear. In the past, DH has given her funding for 30% (his proportion for sports fees, etc) and she's ripped up the check and told him "you're wasting my time by only paying for part" of whatever she wanted him to pay for.

She also regularly complains about medical expenses, because she has a tendency to take the children to providers who do not accept the insurance DH provides.

She's come back again with threats to go after DH for more child support, so I have two legal questions:

1) How do you count income generated as part of a business partnership? BM is now a partner at a local accounting firm, this means she has an ownership stake and gets a payment every year based on the profit that the business makes. Our state uses a typical calculation form that is based primarily on monthly income levels. I'm sure BM would try to hide her partnership income from the calculation, so wondering if anyone else had any success getting this money or other money - like annual bonuses - included in the calculation. BM specializes in providing accounting for divorces, so she's well-versed in how to game the system.

2) Has anyone on this board successfully challenged an ex spouse to repay debt that the ex spouse was supposed to be responsible for under the divorce decree? In their divorce decree, BM took on all IRS debts for her business (which was a sole practitioner accounting business, which she retained all the rights to in the divorce, because she told DH it could not be considered "community property" because it was only her). DH thought that she only owed $12k to the IRS, but it turned out she owed over $50K to the IRS. After their divorce, he noticed that money was being taken from his paycheck for some sort of government payment. When he realized what it was, he begged and pleaded with her to pay off the debt. He had over $10K taken out of his pay before he received an Innocent Spouse Relief ruling from the IRS. I think if she decides she's going to make a case about more child support, DH should make a case about requesting that she pay back the money that was taken out of his pay. This could get especially messy for her because she "sold" the business to the firm she become a partner at.

I told DH he should consult with a lawyer, but am also looking for any input from this group. I don't have any experience with lawyers, other than corporate lawyers at work, so any advice would be helpful.

strugglingSM's picture

Thank you! All of this is helpful.

Yeah, that's my view that we pay CS and things specified in the plan and that's it. She likes to threaten DH with demanding more child support when she wants him to give her money for something that should be covered by child support. I can't wait until she sends the kids asking for money (one of my SSs has already been nosing around about how much money DH makes, I'm 99.9% certain his "interest" was coming direct from BM).

thinkthrice's picture

I had to file innocent spouse for chef the last year the Girhippo and he filed jointly. She "forgot" to mention she had raided all 3 skids college funds before the ink was dry on the divorce papers. She also had conned Chef into giving her the house and 100% proceeds from the sale.

Get a consultation with an attorney.

Ispofacto's picture

In general, Judges do not usually look kindly on idiots who take their kids to providers not on their insurance. If she expects DH to pay half those expenses, she may very well get a smackdown.

Rags's picture

Get a killer shark of a lawyer, document, document, document... and drag BM to court for a beating. Go loaded for bear and dont tolerate her crap.

Getting a killer lawyer is key.

Good luck.