I had opportunity to view a second and what my wife considers "good" draft of the separation agreement. It was mostly what we had discussed previously. Our equalization was fairly straight forward and I understood most of that part. I will be taking over our current house and be "buying her out". She has already bought a house of her own. Custody, access was all as discussed with a childcare counsellor... Shared Custody 50/50 time joint decision making on all the major "life" items. Major extra expenses to be split proportionate to income, etc.
The only surprise or maybe no surprise because I have been told that "her lawyer will try to make it so she doesn't have to pay child support to you"... is that they are proposing that she not pay child support to me. We had discussed that her paying was a possibility. For the past 4 years my wife had made about $20K more than me (Wife=$58K, Me=$38K), according to tables provided by the childcare counsellor on "paper" she should be paying me an offset amount of about $300 per month. It stated on the draft that because of similarity in incomes and expenses that child support would not be payable...? I argued this with my wife. She justified no CS to me by saying that she had told her lawyer she would be continuing to pay medical premiums for the 2 kids' (8 years & 11 years) benefits, purchase all their clothes (as this is something I have rarely done), buy all gifts for birthday parties of friends, and pay all "regular" visits beyond what her benefits pay for for optical and dental....
I was thinking all along that she would be paying me $300 per month and that as my role as a father I would have to learn or start buying clothes, party gifts and stuff... it's just something you do for your kids. I assumed all other "extras" for the kids would be split proportionately to incomes.
Should I be "fighting" for the $300 CS per month? Is it worth it? I have not presented a draft to my lawyer yet as I just had my first view at the SA last night. My wife wants to ask her lawyer for info on how they got to no Child Support so that she can better show me the break-down.
I am worried that this is all going to turn to a pile of crap over money and stuff. Neither of us can really afford much more legal than the minimum.
The only surprise or maybe no surprise because I have been told that "her lawyer will try to make it so she doesn't have to pay child support to you"... is that they are proposing that she not pay child support to me. We had discussed that her paying was a possibility. For the past 4 years my wife had made about $20K more than me (Wife=$58K, Me=$38K), according to tables provided by the childcare counsellor on "paper" she should be paying me an offset amount of about $300 per month. It stated on the draft that because of similarity in incomes and expenses that child support would not be payable...? I argued this with my wife. She justified no CS to me by saying that she had told her lawyer she would be continuing to pay medical premiums for the 2 kids' (8 years & 11 years) benefits, purchase all their clothes (as this is something I have rarely done), buy all gifts for birthday parties of friends, and pay all "regular" visits beyond what her benefits pay for for optical and dental....
I was thinking all along that she would be paying me $300 per month and that as my role as a father I would have to learn or start buying clothes, party gifts and stuff... it's just something you do for your kids. I assumed all other "extras" for the kids would be split proportionately to incomes.
Should I be "fighting" for the $300 CS per month? Is it worth it? I have not presented a draft to my lawyer yet as I just had my first view at the SA last night. My wife wants to ask her lawyer for info on how they got to no Child Support so that she can better show me the break-down.
I am worried that this is all going to turn to a pile of crap over money and stuff. Neither of us can really afford much more legal than the minimum.
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