Child Support Legal Questions

if the other parent has primary placement, defined as 75% of the time counted as overnights, the non-custodial parent under Wisconsin law is required to pay 25% of their gross monthly income if there are two children. You don’t indicate when child support was set and whether you were on disability when the order was set, or if this is something new. You also don’t indicate what your gross is, only perhaps your net. Under federal law, if you are receiving social security disability, your children would be receiving an amount directly per month and you would be able to file a motion with the court to have your payments adjusted accordingly.... Read More

Not nearly enough facts for a coherent answer.  The kids should not be "on the lease," but perhaps the meaning of your statement is unclear.  If the reality of custody/visitation does not match the paperwork, then what you need is a return to court to clarify the court orders.  And yes, the child support orders stand until they are modified.... Read More

Your question is too vague to be answered properly.  Any physical custody order should have secondary custody/visitation terms set out in it.  If the orders in place are really so deficient that there is no provision for your contact with the kids, then you need to get back to court and seek a custody/visitation order.  If you do not know what to do or how to do it, you really need to consult with a family law specialist.... Read More

  Before anyone takes "legal action" your husband should go to his payroll department and try to figure out what the problem actually is.   I would tell him to take a copy of the Income Withholding Order with him, and make sure that the payroll department is sending it to the correct place.  Also, the department could check to see if the  checks are being deducted from  the employer's account.  If they are, then SOMEONE is getting the money, and it is likely the Florida Disbursement Unit and they are making the error...But see below.   It could be that the address where funds are to be sent was incorrect in the IWO.  The address I have is P.O. Box 8500, Tallahassee, FL 32314-8500. In addition, in some counties, Broward, for example, the party receiving the monies  needs to set up a depository account in the county.   Have your husband call the county where the case is pending and find out if an account needs to be set up.  This is typically done by the recipient, but instead of standing on formalities, this is a way to see if the problem can be fixed. Best of luck, Cindy S. Vova Law Office of Cindy S. Vova Broward/Boca Raton 954-316-3496/561-962-2785... Read More

If I understand your post/question correctly, it sounds like you and your ex have entered into a post divorce agreeement for your child to come and live with you and which you will no longer be paying child support. In addition, you have raised the question of whether your ex is going to be obligated to pay child support in reverse, and whether you can agree to "hold open" child support from her. You cannot terminate or waive child support under Wisconsin law, but you can agree to have it "held open." This means that you would have the right to back into court to ask for child support in the future, if there was a change in circumstances of a substantial and significant nature. Your agreement on this still however, must be approved by the court and the court may or may not approve a stipulation as to holding child support open. You will need to spell out in the agreement the reasons why you are both asking the court to hold it open as the court must make specific findings why the child support guidelines are not being followed. Any family law agreement, pre-judgment or post judgment, must be submitted to the court for approval and are not binding until the court approves the same.... Read More

Unclear from your question is whether your arrears have been reduced to judgment, how old the kids are, who has lived with whom for how long, etc. -- those are the things that would determine the answers to the questions you ask.  Presuming you are owed money, you might end up with an "offset judgment" through which the money owed to you is used to "pay" whateveer you are owed, until it is exhausted.  You probably should consult with a family law specialist, however, as it sounds like there are several layers to your problem, and all the facts are not clear.... Read More

It is unclear what is meant by "joint divorce," but under Nevada law if there is an order for primary physical custody the other parent pays support; if there is joint custody (meaning 60/40 or closer timeshare), then the support obligations offset.  For details, see the explanation and materials here.... Read More

If your ex continues to harass you, depending on the number of messages or attempts to contact you and the content of those messages, you may consider applying for  harassment restraining order against him. It carries criminal sanctions if he violates the restraining order, once in effect. ... Read More

It is hard to know exactly why the judge ruled the way he did, but support and custody are primarily based on where the children are overnight.  Thus, even if the children spend most of the day with one parent, it is counted as the other parent's day if they spend the night with him/her.   Attorneys will usually provide a free/minimal fee consultation to discuss a case.  Many will also agree to represent a party for a limited time to assist.   If the temporary order is as you state, it may be hard to get it changed, but the best way to do that is to consult with an attonrey.  They may agree to a payment plan between now and March so he can have asisstance for trial.     Donna Miller 515-245-4300http://www.grefesidney.com/our-team/donna-miller/  ... Read More

Who has primary residential custody? The IRS requirement is that the parent who has the child at least 51% in his or her residence is the one who can claim the deduction. If the daughter lives with your ex, then he would have the exemption. Otherwise, you should have it unless there was some type of agreement between the two of you in your property settlement agreement.... Read More

Ongoing child support can be modified, however, in New Jersey, arrears are not subject to modification except in cases where the child was legally subject to be emancipated and the non-custodial parent was late in filing a motion for emancipation. However, I do not believe the same applies when one child goes to live with the formerly non-custodial parent. That should have been the time to file a motion to modify your child support obligation going forward and have the judge recompute the numbers.... Read More

A child support clause in a divorce agreement will usually have a provision for splitting payment of the expense of the child's activities, college, religious school, etc, depending on the family.  In a contested divorce a court might order one party to pay, or order both parents to split expenses. The bottom line is that the law sees value in children participating in activities such as you describe, and unless the custodial parent enrolls the child in activities that are way beyond the finances of the other parent, both parents will usually have to contribute. ... Read More

It depends what "kind" of "papers" you received.  Typically, at least under Florida law,  an action for child support would have to be brought against you in the state you reside.  However, if you have prior contacts with Puerto Rico (ie: you previously lived there, own a business there or property) it may be the propoer place for the case to be situated.  Since there is something pending in Puerto Rico at this time, I suggest you contact an attorney there, explain the situation and then if Puerto RIco is the improper jurisdiction that Puerto Rican attorney can file the proper motion to dismiss or transfer the action. Best of luck, Cindy S. Vova Law Office of Cindy S. Vova, P.A. Broward/Boca Raton 954-316-3496/561-962-2785... Read More

I just wrote a blog on this very topic at our law firm's web site. From a technical perspective, secondary income (second job/ part time job/ overtime) is income under Wisconsin DCF guidelines for purposes of support; whether such income will be included by the court is purely discretionary. When it comes to a part time job, it my depend  on how long you have worked at the job. If for a long period of time and your family has become dependent on that secondary stream of income, the more likely it will be included. If it is a brand new job, and you are doing it solely to help ends meet, and further, your family has not been dependent on it, the less likely the court may decide to include it.... Read More

Do you have a court order stating when support should last?  You will likely need to file with that same court to get an order formally ending support.  You should also speak to Child Support Recovery regarding ending support payments.     Donna Miller 515-245-4300 http://www.grefesidney.com/our-team/donna-miller/... Read More

I recently wrote a blog at our law firm's web site under family law issues. Under Wisconsin law, you are only entitled to retroactive child support, going to the time a motion or petition. requesting child support is filed and the other party is served with notice of the request; so, the answer to your question is generally no, unless you fall within one of the statutory exceptions to support commencing when the motion is filed and served.... Read More

You can submit a petition to modify or amend an existing custody/visitation/child support order any time there has been a material change in circumstances since the last valid court order.  Unless there has been an 'emergency' situation, the courts will not usually accept a case until the current order has been in place for at least 6 months. Your real problem here is that nothing has really changed since May of 2017 (which was only 3 months ago at most), and the fact that your child care was not included will not be considered yet.  This is one of the reasons that attorneys can be helpful to people who may not be aware of the consequences of proceeding without an attorney to help them. I don't know if you are using DCSE (Department of Social Services, Division of Child Support Enforcement) to assist you in your child support case, but I often encourage all of my parents to use them.  If you are the paying parent, they keep great records of what was paid and when, so there is no question about whether payments were made on time or not.  If you are the receiving parent, they will see to it that you get the proper amount of support (based on the support order and the actual payments being made by the paying parent).  DCSE will also play the role of 'bad guy' and can and will file a show cause motion and take the paying spouse to court for non-payment.  DCSE also has power as a government agency to have tax refunds diverted to pay for support and to have driver's licenses suspended for non-payment. Medical expenses are considered part of child support and if the order says you are to receive reimbursement for 76% of those expenses, and those expenses have not been paid, you can also file a 'show cause' motion with the court for non-payment.  You will need to prove that the expenses were incurred and that you had notified the other parent and that payment has not been made.  Copies of medical bills and copies of letters mailed to the other parent showing that you provided that parent with the bills and are requesting reimbursement will be very helpful (and possibly necessary).    The letter requesting reimbursement does not need to be long and involved.  Something along the lines of 'Here are copies of the medical bills I have received and paid on behalf of ______ (child's name).  According to our Divorce Decree section ____ you are required to provide reimbursement for these charges within ______ days.  Please provide the payment to me by ____  (usually 30 days from today).' As for the visitation, a court order actually gives a 'right' to visitation, but it is not really a legal requirement.  While the courts really want both parents to be involved in their children's lives, the court cannot force anyone to be a parent or to see their child when scheduled.... Read More

I can not give you specifics on what to say without seeing the actual wording of the order that says that the parents are to notify the courts of any change in income.  This is not something that I normally see in a child support order.  That being said, for the motion for show cause, you would need to quote the actual wording of the existing order and then in the next portion of the motion you would explain why that has been violated.  It would then be up to the court to determine whether or not the other parent is in violation of the order.  However, this would be a only for contempt to obey and order of the court and would not result in a recalculation of the support amount. Your other option is to file for a motion to modify or amend child support.  When the case is heard, the court can recalculate the child support based on the currrent incomes at the time of the hearing.  There can be an award of the modified amount retroactive to the time of the filing of the petition (or the service on the other parent, which is usually within a few days).  However, you can not request a payment for what you belive to be overpayments prior to the filing for the adjustment. I also suggest you look closely at the guideline calculations and perhaps have a consultation with a child support attorney to make sure that you will get the result you anticipate.  I have often had cases where the non-custodial parent was in your situation, and thought that his child support would be reduced when his child's mother got a new job with a raise, but in actuality the child support amount increased.  Remember that child support is based on a percentage of gross income of both parents and sometimes a smaller percentage of a larger number equals a higher child support obligation.... Read More