Child Support Question

OHHH! That is a great question---I do not have an answer but would love to know if you find anything out about this.
I am in the same type of situation!
Thanks :)
Good luck on the baby GIRL

His child support will not change...the only way that it will change is if ya'll split up and you put him on support. Having more children with you doesn't effect the amount he is obligated to pay. Hope this helps

As many have said, the amount of support does not change due to the supporting parent's having more children. A change can be made if the money made changes, but only if it is significant. Also, any income made by the spouse of the supporting parent is NOT taken into account.

I researched this information when my I was pregnant with my first child with my husband. It does change. And you have to do some papework. I don't quite remember how much it changes by - but you can look up the information on the Att. General website.
www.oag.state.tx.us
That is where I found it.

Be sure to talk to your husband first. My husband and I decided NOT to file for the change. I did all the research and of course thought that was money that should be going to our baby... ect. ect. When I talked to him about it and gave him all of the information, he told me that he did not want to change it. He said that he was his son too and he wanted to take care of him. He said that if he could take care of our baby without taking from his son, that's what he would do. It left me speechless. But he was right. I loved him and admired him even more for that.

The child support amount will not and should not change. She will always be his daughter and should always have his support. I would hope that you would encourage and support his efforts to not only support his children financially, but to be involved as much as he can in both of his daughter's lives.

The baby you are carrying already has a sister. My suggestion is that you be open to involving this little girl in your life, and in the life of your new baby. Family connection and a sense of belonging are CRUCIAL to the emotional health of a child. Your actions and attitude toward the child who is already here will be a significant factor in the emotional health of your daughter and your relationship. I would work on maintaining good communication with your fiance about his daughter, and even with his daughter's mother. Encourage MORE, not LESS support . . . financially and emotionally. It is BEST for the child.

It does not change. Your fiance's responsibility to his first child does not change because he is fathering another child. It still costs the same to raise the first child, he expenses are not going down because there is another baby on the scene.

Dear C.
i don't know if you can change the amount but i was wondering why you would think to change anything? That child was first and her dad is responsible for her first.congrats on your child,enjoy every minute it goes fast.

The ONLY way his child support amount can change is if he went back to court to try to get it changed. As an employer, I have seen many cases of child support situations and have learned a lot. Your fiance has a moral obligation (as well as legal) to support his daughter.

Congratulations on your upcoming baby! Focus on the positive side of life (the glass is half full) versus the negatives (the glass is half empty). This will help not only you, but everything else that you will be faced with. Best to you always.

I do not think it will change at all. Adding more responsibility by having another child does not change his current responsibility to his present child. I would check with an attorney to be sure, but I am pretty sure that is the case.

My husband has another child from a previous marriage. We have an 11 month old together. His ex was wanting more child support and we went to court last month. They do take into account another child. His ex receives 17.5% of his paycheck. If we did not have a child, she would have been entitled to 20% of his check. She is not entitled to any of my money, only his money is considered. I was not even allowed to be in the hearing. I understand where you are coming from. I understand that my husband has a responsibility to his first child, but he also has a responsibility to my son. The state recognizes that a father has a responsibility to ALL of his children.

I can not help but feel angry when I read these questions you have posted. I was a single mom for several years and trust me whatever he is paying now is not enough as it is. His other child deserves the same as your child deserves. You will see the financial expense it is to raise a child when your new baby arrives. I feel you are showing your age and nativity. Child support does not change just because there is an addition to a family. If you go through the Attorney General they can do a review every three years and they will modify accordingly, which can make the support go UP or DOWN. Otherwise, you have to go to court (which is VERY costly)to have it modified.

I know I am sounding harsh and I AM SORRY for that, but I would hope that you would understand his first child IS his first responsibility and that you would support him in that regard. Besides, you knew that he had another child before you got pregnant or even got married to him.

Well congrats on your baby girl. I know you have gotten this answer but some people just seem so harsh. Child support is not based upon how many children you have or other financial obligations. The first child is given 20%, and it decreases from there but the don't take into account if there is already a child support order and then other kids are born. if you later file for child support you would not get 20%, you would get the next increment. You can always look at his child support decree and it will list the office and phone number locally to call. you can also go to the child support website: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/cs/index.shtml and look for information. In retrospect you have to understand that his support for his first child should not be contingent upon your kids. He has an obligation to that child and it seems he takes on that responsibility by paying child support but unfortunately that care doesn't fluctuate because of you and his plans. Good luck and I hope this helped at least a little.

As you've already been told it will never change. Your fiancé has a responsibility for that child, just because you're getting married and having a child of your own doesn't mean that child support/responsibility will change. I know it's not what you wanted to hear but to me it makes sense.

My question is why should it change? Will his daughter need less when your child is born?

im not sure why you think his child support to his other child would change because you are having a baby. it wont. you can go back to court to change it at a huge expense and if he is making more money, he could end up paying more. 20% is standard in Texas for one child.

It will change to 17.5 percent and you can go through your attorney generals office or a private attorney. But with the attorney generals office you do not have to pay anything. Good Luck and congrats on the baby girl.

I am a paralegal and have dealt with child support for the past 11 years. I myself have gone to the attorney generals office and you can in fact come to an agreement. If your fiancee and his x can come to an agreement it doesnt necessarily have to be a percentage. I just did it myself with my x and the order signed by a judge and accepted. I live in El Paso. If you need any help please contact me.

C.

Yes, it goes down , but you have to either go back to court or file with the AG for that to happen. And you're right, your income will never be considered where his support is concerned.

Good luck, I read your response after I posted, so I am now giving you kudos for being a concerned parent and concern for his other child.

Hi...your finance's child support will probably change by a few percentage points. He is paying 20% now which is normal for one child and when another child is presented to the court they usually lower it by 2-3%. You have to petition the court to Modify the current Child Support Order - if I remember correctly:) The more children before the court the more different the order becomes. The responsibility changes and adjusts with more kids. Of course you should consult a family law attorney to be sure but that has been my experience.

Good Luck!

His child support shouldn't change just because he has another child.
If he does want to modify the child support, he will need to go back to court.
Normally, (IME)they won't modify support because of another child, but you and he can talk to yout attorney and ask.

Blessings,

Last time I knew, Texas law was 20% of the household income. Unless something has changed, he still will pay 20%. Then when you marry it is 20% of total income, including yours. Check with a legal advisor or lawyer. If your income is not to high, you can go to free or sliding scale service. I think their name was Lonestar Legal.
Hope it all works for the best for both families.

As far as I know it will not change at all.....child support is based on what you earn if he hasnt taken a pay cut then expect to be paying the same amount. It dosent matter if you have another child as long as his earnings are the same then his payment will be the same. You can always contact the attorney generals office and get a definative answer or even ask for a change in status to lower his monthly payments....But remember that he will have to be the one to do the contacting not you. Then you need to put yourself in his exs place would you think it was fair for him to pay less just because he has moved on and decided to have another child...that decision has nothing to do with his oldest child and thats the way the court often looks at it.

It usually doeasn't change once it's in play. You should probably seek a lawyer and ask their advice, but I have a couple of friends who have had more children after initial childsupport is worked out and the court is not likely to change that first child's support just because of new kiddos.

Congratulations on your new little one.

As far I know, his responsibilities to his other daughter will not change at all. He will continue to pay 20% to his daughter, she is after his child. Regardless of how many children you and he have together he will likely continue to pay his share of child support.

If you do want anything changed as far as child support or custody, you do have to innitiate it. It can be very costly to do this and the results are probably not going to change. 20% is the max that can be taken and unless you can show that there is no earthly way that the new baby can survive on what is left over after that 20% is taken it won't change. My husband and I went through the same questions when I became pregnant with our first child. However, since our second, we have just decided to agree that the money going towards his first daughter's child support is going for a good cause. She is well taken care of and when she turns 18, we'll have an extra $900 a month - unless she decides to go to college, at which point child support stops at 21. Good luck with the new baby girl and God bless.

The child support does not change he will pay that till the court order is over. It does not matter how many children he has with other women. The future children that go on child support (if that happensd) will get less but the first one stays the same. I am not an attorney just have other peoples children that pay me and this is also for Texas child support only.

If I were you and wanted to be really sure. Just call the attorney General office or go to the attorney generals office and they can explain it all to you.

C. -

The child support can change, but I believe in order for it to change the two of you would need to be married (I could be incorrect on this part). He would need to contact the Attorney General's Office. The child support can be lowered to 17% but there restrictions and guidlines that need to be met in order for the AG's office to submit the paperwork. This is because they can't run to court and make changes everytime someone calls. There has to be a certain % of change I think somewhere around a 20% difference between the old support order and the new one. If there is less than this difference your option is to hire a lawyer personally and make a request for support modification.

The courts don't care how many kids you have. If you are a different person with a child you will also get the 20% or whatever percent the family code allows. So,you are seperate and will get your own money.

Hi I understand your concern and am very happy you got your response. I have a couple of questions for you. Do you like being a step parent?Or let me rephrase that do you get the opportunity to be the step parent? Did you consider that once your married that all money made by both parties is joint money in a marriage. Maybe it isn't coming directly out of your check but it is coming out of the household. These are responsibilites that maybe you didn't consider until you became pregnant yourself. I understand you want to make sure your child is taken care of but he has an obligation to that child. Although the legal advice you got from the paralegal maybe true for you may be dealing with an up heal battle. What state did the child support hearing take place because it varies from state to state. Hopefully this issue dosen't bring strain but the other child was there before and I know you have concern with your new baby but this was a battle you were getting into with your eyes wide open( as percieved in your request). I hope you get a speedy solution.

I am sorry to tell you this at such a special time in your life but your fiance's child support will not change at all. His support was based on his child and his income and will actually have nothing ever to do with the second child. On the other hand should you both get married she will not be able to take him back to court and ask for a larger amount because of your income.

Sorry,
L.

I am don't believe that your fiance's responsibility to he daughter's mother will change at all. Responsibility is just that - responsibility and no matter how many children he should father, he would be responsible to care for each one of them. You may have to get the Attorney General's office involved. It would not affect his present situation; only
yours in getting child support for your new baby.

It wont change at all. The only way child support changes is if you go back to court, then more than likely it will go up. Even if he got fired from his job and had to take a lesser paying job the courts will more than likely find him at fault and make him continue paying what he was already paying. They would punish him not the child. Just like his little girl should not be punished just because YOU pop out another kid. I surely hope you change your way of thinking, because if you don't it will be a long hard road for you all.

C.,
Recently went thru a divorce. Ex is paying child support on child from previous marriage. If you have one child in the state of Texas and you are the first to file, you are entitled to 20%. If more than one child like in my Ex's case, he had two children he had to pay 25%. It is only based off of his income and not yours. When I filed he was still paying on one child. I was only entitled to 17% of child support. Texas now uses a calculation. You can no longer walk into court and just say, "Hey we agreed on this". If you go back to court and your Husband is making less now than he was when the order was put into place then yes the child support will reduce. My attorney told me that either party can take it back to court every 2 years.

Hope this helps

Hi C.,

You need to seek the advice and guidance of an experienced licensed family law attorney. I am an attorney (although not in the field of family law) and am disappointed to hear a paralegal giving legal advice. Ask around and get a couple solid references to find someone to help you with this. Folks will take their experiences (or someone else's experience) and assume that it's cut and dry. Legal issues are never cut and dry. There are always details that are left out that can have a major impact on the outcome.

Best wishes for you and your new family. --B.

If you are in Tx it should probably go like this: My husband separated from his ex when his dauther was 2 years old, he started paying child support as soon as they separated, so Dec of 07 was 3 years of him paying child support, the ex asked for a review because she found out he he is making more money than before,(every 3 years she can ask for a review), my baby was 5 month old when they went to the review and my husband told the person at the AG's office that he had a newborn and that he was not going to sign any paper because by law it had to be reduced to 17%, the person told him that he was right and asked his ex if she new that he had a newborn, the ex replied that she was aware and she was told that instead of hi paying 20% of his take home salary he was now going to pay 17% and she was also told that if in 3 years his salary did not increase by $3 not to bother in requesting a review because the amount was not going to increase. The ex told the person that she was also going to have a baby and that I had good paying job, the person told her that her new baby was not my husbands responsability and that her daughter was not my responsability, he told her that the AG's office didn't care if I made more money than him or not. So to answer your questions, they can not use your income to pay for his child support, and second when you have your baby wait for her to request a review ( do not let your husband request a review for him self, they will not be sympathetic with him)

Child Support only changes if you go back to court and have the original order modified. Sorry!

Hello C.,
I do agree with some of the responses.
The percentage won't automatically change when your baby is born. Your husband would actually have to go to the attn. gen. or private attorney and request for a review and inform them of another child. They "DO" (trust me) take into consideration any other children he has. Even when and if you do have a second baby, that percentage will lower even more (not much more). Ultimately, that is a choice you both have to make. If your husband never informs them of a new child, then he will continue to provide the 20% to his 1st until he automatically is due for an Income Review which is done every 3-4 years.
Congratulations on your baby! Hope everything goes well.

B:)

C....here is a link you can get addidtional information from:

http://www.texaslawhelp.org/TX/index.cfm

Click the Family Law icon and you'll see the child support link.

A friend of mine went through this and the child support was lowered to around 17%. The court has to take into consideration that he has other children to care for. This will require him to let the AG know and he will have to go back to court.

His child support to his daughter will not change without his income changing. Your daughter being born will not affect it at all. I'm sorry if you were expecting it to change, but that doesn't happen. He could have 10 kids with 10 different mothers and they would all get the same appropriate amount, I believe! Pretty much standard is child support goes to the mother until the child is 18 AND graduates (so if she turns 18 in September, you still have the rest of the school year to have to pay child support) or if the child gets married before 18. Good luck with your baby girl!

**ETA I noticed some people mentioned your income being taken into account. This is NOT true in Texas. Your income will not be taken into account for his child support payment.

it won't change. it doens't matter how many kids you guys have he'll always have to pay her 20%. when you get married she can take you back to court and include your income with that (if you work)

In Texas they cannot use your income. My husband has two children from a previous marriage. He chose to pay support before the divorce was ever filed for (they separated a year before I met him) so that they could have what they needed. He chose to pay over the traditional 25% because our son is 90% deaf.

When our oldest (my stepson) graduated, it was supposed to be modified to 20% but no one would give us an answer other than "let her file", so we dropped the support to 1/2 of what he was paying. We thought "if x amount for two then 1/2x for one". BOY! were we wrong! She didn't bother asking for a review *for 3 years* until our daughter (my stepdaughter) was a junior in high school (she has since graduated). We did not drop anything else, we even still cover them on health insurance even though he doesn't have to because our insurance allows us to cover them until they are 25. She had never notified the state that our son had graduated and so (after 3 years) they told him he owed $10,000 on both children. Turned out he only owed $3,000 on our daughter because we had dropped it too much - we were short $83 a month and didn't know it, the state never aksed why he had dropped the amount taken out of his paycheck and sent directly to the state. If someone had answered us accurately, our daughter would have been receiving the correct amount before this. When we found this out we hired a family law attorney. He helped us figure out how much he owed. Because we have two children together, the amount paid to our daughter (it's the child's money not the mother's, Mom is just the one who has to use it for housing, food, clothing, activities, whatever the child needs) dropped from 20% to 16%. It still came out to more than he was paying before because the original support order had not changed since 1991. As part of the original agreement, he covered health insurance, 1/2 of all out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by insurance, carried a $120,00 life insurance on himself for just them 'just in case' until they turned 18 AND graduated high school. And (not part of the order) we paid for all school supplies and some of the uniforms for these two PLUS their little sister from their mom (her dad paid child support but had no contact with the daughter).

In Texas, the only way a parent can be forced to pay for college is if they signed an agreement. Otherwise, child support ends at 18 AND graduation. Hope this shows how different each support order can be. I don't begrudge our kids any of this because they would have received all of this had they been living with us anyway.

Let me start off by letting you know this is a very emotional question. You will probably get a lot of "grief" over this simple question. You can get a change. The Attorney General's website will not tell you a whole lot of information. Check out the family code. (Google "Texas Family Code") and look for the section that deals with Child Support Guidelines. It gives the amounts due for the child/ren under the CS obligation AND the percentages for additional children he is obligated to support. I believe it goes down to 17% or 18%...however this is not automatic. Unless he can get his ex-wife to agree to a modification of support, you will need to hire an attorney AND/OR contact the Attorney General's office and request a review. BE WARNED...once in the OA's office, a review can only be processed once every 3 years...unless there is a substantial change (more than 10% or $100). Look carefully at the difference. The other thing about going through the OAG's office is that they will review your child support obligation once every 3 years whether you request it or not. The NCP and CP could both be in agreement about the amount due and the OAG's office will STILL review it every 3 years for an increase/decrease. Of course, I suggest you verify all of this through an attorney...I am not one. I have just dealt with the system for the last 12 years.

Congrats on daughter! Remember...the state will consider your additional children, but he still has a financial, moral and emotional obligation to his first child.

It does not change at all, even if you have 12 kids. It is a % set by the state for the support of that child. It will never change unless he gets a raise, then it goes UP. Been there - done that. I know that is NOT what you want to hear but you have to put yourself in HER shoes. She counts on that money and it is meant for the child.

Hi C.,

The amout he pays for any other child(ren) will not change, unless his finances change. If his salary increases, the mother of the child may move to modify the current order, if his salary decreases, he can then report that to the attorney general's office and, of course his child support will be less. It's more than likely locked in at 20%, no matter the income, legally though, 50% is the max they can order him to pay.
The fact that he now has other child(ren) has nothing to do with him still having to help support any other child(ren) outside of the marriage.

Hope this info was useful.
~ N.

Dear C.,

Congratulations! You're going to love being a mom!
However, you're fiance' / soon-to be-husband's child support will not be decreased because you are expecting a baby. The fact that you are having a baby does not mean that his other childs needs will decrease. Your fiance' has an obligation to all of his children and it would behoove you to support your soon-to-be-husband's obligations, as well. Being a step parent and expecting your own is difficult and you probably need to prepare yourself for all the ups and downs that come along with the decisions you have made.
Good Luck and God Bless your precious one.

Hey C.,

The child support payment will not change. The 20% is standard percentage and just because he decided to again have another kid the court system will not reduce his other kids payment.

Good luck with the new baby. Girls rock!!!!!

Hi C.,

Just wanted to say that I'm sorry some of these responses are jumping all over you for asking the question. No one should assume that you don't care about the welfare of his 5 yr old daughter. There might be more going on in her child support situation than your question conveys, especially since your previous post mentioned her mom has new baby also... Maybe you both are supporting the daughter more, like she's living with you more than previously, and the monthly % has not been adjusted to reflect that...? From some of your past posts, it is clear that you do want his daughter to adjust well to the new baby and want her to continue to feel special to her daddy.

I interpreted your question as just wondering if decreasing the % was standard practice when additional children are born. I didn't read it as malicious.

Your fiance might want to consider changing the number of deductions on his W-4 as more dependents are born. If your real question is how to maximize his net pay, you might want to have a CPA look over his taxes and advise on tax reduction measures.

I've been dealing with child support issues for year, and you were told right and its actually no money out of your pocket if you go to the attorney general instead of paying an attorney. I have a question because my ex had a kid and I let him lower it. I have a friend who her ex wants it lowered because he choses to work his once second job that pays less and his good paying job he made it secondary, well anyway since she is barely making ends meet she has been putting off going to the attorney general with him. Did this para-legal tell you what happens if the other party won't go to the attorney general? Child support is a crazy situation isn't it. You should want to take care of your kids and need to make sure you can swing it before you involve anyone else but then you have these mother's who don't spend the money right, so it goes both ways. Crazy yes I know. good luck with everything and I can't wait to see if you have an answer to my question.

The child support he pays out will not change. I have even heard where the mother of the first child tries to get the 20% from the household income. I have only seen this once when there was a lot of hostility between the 2 families. Hopefully you won't have to try to get child support but a friend of mine went through a situation where she was the first one to file then found out there were 2 other children and the court had said that the first one to file receives the 20% and then it goes down from there with each child that files after. I don't know what the percentage is exactly but hopefully you won't ever have to go through it. Also try to get along with the mother of his other child. It will make things a lot easier not only for you and your fiance but for all of the children involved. That doesn't mean you have to be buddy buddy but I know things have been a lot nicer and easier to work through with my husband and I being able to get along with my son's father. Congratulations on the new baby.

You should talk to a family lawyer. It may not change automatically unless you take some kind of action. Call Trish Cantu at ###-###-####.