Child Support Laws.. Help!

K.,

You need to find an attorney that will give you answers for your questions. They will be the ones who can give you adivce on what to do. Go back to the lawyer your husband had for the divorce and have them go over what each parties responsible for. This will give you a peace of mine that you know what your husband and you are responsible for. Good luck in finding your answers.

Hello,

I can't fully answer to his dying. I do know that the papers say that their obligation doesn't end with their death, that their estate is responsible for the child support. As far as her getting any of your income, that is totally false. Only his income counts in the child support.

Good luck:)

Can I just say one thing? That the idea here is to take care of the children, yours and hers.

By reducing her child support you are reducing her way to care for their child. Try and find the most fair way to deal with this and you all will be happier no matter what the laws says.

Try and consider the child care expenses, healthcare copays, child sick days that she has to take off and may lose pay, and groceries and then do the same for your child. Be fair. It is not an issue of outdoing the other or how dare she even ask for money. It is an issue of child "Support".

Knowing the laws will bring you some peace.

Your spouse has this responsibility until the other baby is 18. He should feel proud that he is caring for his family, for his children. Many men do not.

Having two babies is tough and two from different homes is even tougher. If I can ask one thing, just try and be peaceful about these things and you will be happier in the long haul.

God bless, C.
www.goingtotheark.com

Child care supportlaws are different in every case. Read his divorce decree. If it states that your husbands estate is responsible for child support until said child is 18, then your husband might be right. A court is not suppose to be able to look at a spouse's salary when assessing child support.

This in only true in cetian stituation. You will never be added to his child support for what you have earned. So if your husband pays his child support on time with no problems this will never happen, however, if you husband become delinquent enough, they will take your tax return which is based on your combined income, as well as now they have come up with taking escrow money that you may get and that also is part of your combined income. He should should be able to prove that he has other children to take care of and they came accomidations for it. Believe me, my ex-husband was able to get his child support dropped because he has other children by his now wife. He has our sons so I pay child support to him, and he has only gotten my current husbands and I tax return when I was behind, but they have never added my husbands income into the equation of the amount of child support he has gotten.

K.,

I know everyone means well, but I am an attorney and I specialize in Family Law (which includes child support modifications). Someone said not to listen to the advice of well-meaning strangers and I agree. Call an attorney and talk to them. It is unlikely the Attorney General's office will assist your husband unless the state has a stake in the situation - he is behind in his support, the mom receives state benefits/aid, etc. You will need to talk to a private lawyer.

Talking to an attorney will get you the answers you need and get you the correct answers. Everything is spelled out in the Texas Family Code (or the Family Code for whatever state you live in) so there isn't any need for guessing.

Good luck,
L.

I'm not sure about Tx child supoort laws. But I do know in FL, that the first child is 18% and each child after that is 9%. Based on a 3000 a month income. I believe the support would be %1080.

I do know that whatever start your in the first child is always the highest percentage. Then a smaller percentage for each additional child. Like some of the other moms on here. I would call and talk to the people at child support. I don't know if they'll talk to you about your hubby's child supoort, even though your his wife. They are really funny about that. But if you talked to someone about hypotheticals (sp) They might answer your questions.

Good luck.

No, as long as your husband is working his ex will not get a percentage of your income. That comes into play if you make him a stay at home husband - which does make sense, if you think about it - Husband should not be able to screw his first child out of support if you make enough money for him to stay home.

That said, if he has had any raises or worked overtime on anything that resembles a semi-regular basis since the first CS hearing; or if she pays health insurance or daycare cost that have gone up - that can raise it.

His estate is responsible for his support; not his wife. It's not a bad idea to have a life insurance policy in place to pay for the balance - in addition to having enough to pay for what would be your kids' support too.

S.

All I know is my husband was behind and the AG's office took money out of OUR bank account. The only way they returned our money was because I had to show prooh that was my money not his. We were together but not married so we had different last names thank goodness!
They gave us our money back but it was scary

Good Luck

E.

I have never heard of the reduction but do know that the first gets the largest percentage and subsequent children much less in child support. His children would be getting a part of his estate as his there right ...in Texas, 1/2 of your community assets are considered 'his' and all children would share equally unless otherwise stated in his will...after all debts are paid including any outstanding child support. They would also be entitled to survivor's benefits as would your children together. HTH

K.,

This is too important for you to rely on the advice of well-meaning strangers. Have your husband contact the attorney who handled his divorce. The attorney should review your current situation and make his legally defensible recommendation, based on the laws in your state. I would suggest that you would receive huge peace of mind and would be willing to pay an hour's rate to the attorney. Please don't stress over hearsay.

Kristne, child support laws vary by state. Best advice is get an attorney. In Texas, depending on the wording on the divorce papers, the combined incomes can be figured to determine child support. In my case, only his income was considered. If other was considered, I'd have gotten a bigger check. However, because of wording on the papers, my aunt's income was used in conjunction with her husband's to figure child support paid for his two children.

As far as I know, unless you adopt the child, you are not responsible for paying his child support fees at his death. (However, if you and your child receive death benefits, the other child likely will receive a death benefit as well, depending on how that's set up, you may be the person assigned to oversee the amount on the stepkid's behalf, and thus responsible for making sure a percent goes to stepkid.)

And as far a I know, the amount does not change just because he had another kid, however I believe there is a stipulation that the amount a parent pays cannot exceed a certain portion of the parent's income. That's why some dads who have children with multiple women are required to a bunch of support, and get way behind.

There usually is a time frame for which the support issue can be reviewed, generally 2-3 I think.

Again, your best source of information is an attorney. Review custody papers, and have them ready when talking to people who know. If in Texas, you might check with the AG's office. They have a division dedicated to child support, and might be able to answer basic questions, although keep in mind they do not represent either party legally, so questions may have to be generic.

There is a percentage of child support paid. I paid 28 percent which was $640/mo plus had to have insurance on my children. My former husband had children that he was paying child support to that were in the arrears. When we filed jointly they took all the tax return money and applied it to the arrears. You can hire a lawyer and file "injured spouse" and get your half of the money back. I tried filing as an injured spouse without getting a lawyer but my attempt failed. I've known some that hired a lawyer and were successful. In the event the person paying child support dies, the child should draw on his/her social security or disability benefits. However if none of this is available the other party could hire a lawyer and suit the estate. Your income is only his income when you file jointly and there are arrears. The rest is figured on his income from his last W2. Now if she knows of any other monies he receives she can sue for that to be included as income as well. Read the child support papers carefully and if there is something you aren't sure about, contact the attorney general's office or a lawyer for legal advice. If you and your husband weren't married and you had a child, yes his support would be decreased from the other child thus allowing for support for your child but since you are married with a child, the support for the other remains the same. However he can file a motion to modify if he's getting less money now than when she first filed.

Find a family law attorney and speak with them, it will be worth it for your peace of mind. I paid my ex-husband's child support for years after he stopped paying (not because I had to, but because I loved my step children and they needed the money.) Good luck.

Not true. Texas only looks at the income of the actual parent.
Unless that parent does not work, then they will look at the income of the "household" based on what the parent was last capable of making. Does this make sense?

It is also not true about you paying his child support after death. In most cases the courts will require life insurance with the child as beneficiary. This policy is set up to insure the support of the child in the case of death.

My husband and I battled this for the past 12 yrs. We took custody away from his ex and she quit her job. She has spent the last 12 years hiding her actual income so that she could get away with only paying $200 a month for two children!

The best way for you to get the correct answers is for you to consult with an attorney.

D.
SAHM of three:19,18,and 5.
Home BAKER, Candy maker, and Crafter. Married to the same wonderful man for almost 12 years.

What state r u in?? Because in texas yes thats true what he was told ... i have a 15yr old daughter and my husband has a 15yr old daughter ... his daughter is my step and her mom filed child support and when i filed for my income tax the state took it all because he owed back child support and they also told me that if something happened to my husband i would be responsible for his child .... i was like ummmm i didnt help make that baby so why should i have to take care of her if something happened to him...well now she lives with us and there is nothing that the state or anyone can make me pay now that i have been taking care of her for almost 4yrs now ok i had to add some more in here ... my husband is disabled he was ONLY GETTIN DISABILITY and they made him pay 350.00 a month with me and my husband having a child and he was only gettin 637.00 a month ... they base the child support on the WHOLE house hold i just went through this ...

K. -

Check out the Attorney General's website in the child support section to get some answers to your questions.
http://www.oag.state.tx.us/cs/parents/faq.shtml
You can also call the office & ask questions. In my experience (my husband pays child support), only the biological non-custodial parent's income is considered. In regards to who is responsible in case of his death, I am not certain but I believe that might be you. I have read in my husband's child support paperwork that in case of his death, his estate is still responsible for paying the child support until the 18th birthday of the child. Not sure on this, though...I would definitely check out the OAG's website & even give them a call if you have questions before paying for an attorney...Oh, and the percentage goes down 2.5% if the biological non-custodial parent has a child with someone else...hope this helps!

No you are not responsible for his previous child. I know that personally because I pay child support and they go by my income not my husband. The only way they can make you responsible is if you adopt the child and obviously the mother is involved so that isn't a possibility.

K.,

It is always best to hire someone who specializes in what you need done. If your house was flooded with water you wouldn't ask a stranger what to do. You would call a plumber. So, take control of the situation and get answers. Even if it isn't what you want to hear you will at least know what to expect.

The lawyer I used for my child custody case offered a free consult. Here is a link to info about him (http://www.wrattorney.net/Bio/RandallWarmbrodt.asp). He isn't cheap or affordable ... but then again I haven't heard of an attorney who is. His rates were average for our area though. His staff was very good to us and answered every question we had.

Good Luck!!
T.

Ok you are vrey right he was misinformed. They figure child support based off of his and her income. They figure if they were still married the child would be benefiting from both incomes and they add to hers for the support. Obviously if they were still married the child would not be benefiting from your income. If he has a life insurance policy it would go towards the child in the form of a trust but only to the extent of remaining child support per the order. If he has no insurance then no you do not have to keep paying his child support because again obviously if he were dead there would be no income to concider. Unless his friend has died and had to pay this he would have no idea. As far as decreasing his child support you would have to pay the $75 to $100 consult fee with a attorney to ask him this for sure cause each situation is different.

ok.. no no no no.. it drives me nuts that people will claim to know the law and state it as fact, when in all actuality they have no clue. it seems insane to you because it is. your husband is responsible for the child he had with her, not you!!! your income has nothing at all to do with his child support to her. it is not your kid, you have no rights to it, and therefore are not obligated to pay for it.

2ndly- Your husband needs to get a Will asap so that if he dies the baby's momma (if the child's under 18 when he passes) would not have a right to any of his assets or property. Now i say the mom because if the child is under 18 then obviously she would be his guardian and part of your husbands estate would belong to the 1st child. You would not be responsible, per say, to pay his child support but his estate would, hence why he needs to get a Will and leave everything to you or his parents or someone else.

hope this helps

Texas laws are strange so I would get legal counsel. We ran into that when my stepson started living with us at age 10 but his mom was still getting child support even though we had him 24/7. My husband thought that was ridiculous so he did not send support and we ended up in court. Then when our child came along, she claimed additional expenses as he was getting older...There are some lawyers who give free consults...

Good luck...I pray that she will not be vindictive just because you and her ex now have a child...