My ex husband and I have just changed our visitation/placement of our 11 yr old son to 50/50 placement. I am single and he is married with another child. He is now telling me that since our placement has been changed his child support payments will be drastically dropping and is preparing to take me back to court. I understand by all means that we are now sharing placement, but is it at all factored in that I am living on one income and he has duel income? Just curious if anyone knows how this works in WI.
I thought 2 years ago, when I was filling out paperwork (I was going to take him to court for more support, but decided it was too much of a hassle at the time) that the paperwork had asked for "household" income not just income of one party. If anyone can help clarify this all for me I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thank you in advance.
Since my ex's income is much more then mine I'm sure I will still continue to get some support although I'm sure it will be minimal. Everything that has been said makes sense. Thanks for guidance ladies
The fact that he is remarried has nothing to do with child support. At 50/50 I think you would get very little if any besides having medical bills and school supplies split.
I would think that the step-mom would not have to pay into YOUR child support.
I am no lawyer, so I could totally be wrong. I would think that they would take into account your ex-husband's salary and he would pay a percentage of that and they would take into accoung your salary and you would pay a percentage. He shouldn't be penalized because he got married. That's not her child to support it's yours and his.
L.
I dont think what the spouse makes matters.. unfortunatly.. and if the child is in an arrangement of 50/50 doesnt that mean no one pays anyone anything unless health insurance or school costs have to be covered?? This is what I vaguely remember from my court spat 4 years ago.. I am good at being wrong too.. so good luck!!
Every state is going to be different, but child support typically has nothing to do with HOUSEHOLD income.
Of course, college financial aid does, and that's TOTALLY going to stink for me in a couple of years. :-p
With 50/50, yes cs is likely to go down. But (individual parental) income does still play a part, generally speaking.
We switched full custody from the bio mom to our house but prior to that, my husband paid child support all along, from even before we got married. My income does not, never has, and never will factor into child support for my SD, just like her mom's husband's income didn't reduce the amount that my husband was required to pay her when she got married.
If we ever agree to 50/50 custody, neither party will pay child support. Child support is for the kids, not the parents so in theory, if you each have the child 50% of the time then the net expenses for each parent for the child are the same so no parent should be paying the other. In theory if he also has the child 50% of the time then there is no reason that you can't go out and earn the same that he can. In reality it may be that it's easier for him to earn more because of his education and/or experience and having a spouse to help with childcare, but in theory there's no reason why you too can't get married and avail yourself of that extra income and help. So don't be surprised if child support is reduced or eliminated - in my state, dual income vs. single income and actual expenses don't factor into child support at all. Just like if you got married, his order to you would not have changed, his marriage status and household income may not factor into this at all.
50/50 support = no child support
It goes by supporting the child, it is after all child support. So yes, if you now have the child less the child needs less support. Generally if you go from having the child 100% to 50% your child support will be cut in half.
I don't completely understand why some parents think it is to support their lifestyle. My ex does, he wanted to take me to court to reduce my support because I am married. Being married increased my household income which supports my household, it did not reduce the expenses of our children. See that would be the other side of the equation.
Your ex is right.
I don't know if they do it this way in WI but a fair way of calculating support in shared custody cases is to figure out what mom would pay if dad had full physical custody based on her income only and then what dad would pay if mom had full physical custody based on his income only and then split the difference. So if mom would pay dad $100/week and dad would pay mom $150/week then, when 50/50 shared custody happens dad would end up paying mom $50.00/week. This is how it is done in many states. Your ex-husband's spouse's income will not factor in for the support of your child but he will probably get a credit for having to support another child assuming he is the father and not a step-parent.
Here in Oregon, child support is figured out using a formula on a worksheet using income and hours spent at each house to determine the amount. However, you don't have to follow the formula and can make it whatever you want in the judgment. My ex wanted the support payments to be unrelated to the time spent with each parent, because he was seeking more parenting time with the boys and said he'd pay me the same even if I gave him more days. I gave him some extra time with the boys in summer which he doesn't always use, but in general the agreement is working for us.
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Your county that you live in should have a free child support calculator on their website, just google it. Good luck.
If you go to your state's website for child support they may have documentation on how child support is determined and calculated. I know NJ does. In NJ all income and children are considered but ultimately both parents income is only considered for the support of the children they have together. If you are sharing the time with the child this is where they get the 50/50 split. It can be complicated. Long story short, you have the child less time therefore expect less financial support for the child. I hope this helps.
Have you tried talking to the father? What expenses do you think you have, that he too will not have? Since you have 50/50, what about just removing child-support all together and discuss things as they come up. It's always about the kids in these situations and not how you will support yourself. I know it can seem very unfair, since he has a dual income household, but his new wife has no obligation to you or your children. Again, I think the best thing for you to do is discuss with them how you feel this will affect your ability to care for your child and if there are other things he/his new wife can do for you to help out physically/emotionally rather than financially. Children always benefit when the parents are supportive of each other, divorced or not.
I would think that 50/50 would eliminate most child support (maybe not insurance). I had a friend though 15 years ago that went to 50/50 for their three year old, she really believed that the father was important in his daughter's life and supported it very much. Up until that point she was a stay at home mom so he did pay some child support. She obviously had to get a job, move up the ladder and the child support wasn't needed...it was 50/50. It looks like you may have recently been divorced from your three year old's father? Is that where you need to go for child support? With the 11 year old, I don't see the need.
Hey S., Good for you that you agreed to share more time with your son's father. That is a gracious gesture and yeah for you that you changed the arrangement. Shared parenting is hard and complicated at times and not for wimps. One of the hardest parts is the money aspect. It definitely is not always fair for both households. If somehow you end up on the short end of the stick ( I am in a blended family and our household is on the short end all the way around) try and look past the parts that don't feel fair and enjoy the blessings of having a son. I know that can be a tall order so make sure you have lots of people around you to give you care and support.
