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  • Calculating Child Support

    I always thought that with the Guidelines, this would be a fairly simple matter. Boy was I wrong!

    When my husband lost his job and asked for a reduction, it was declined by the court because the judge felt his request was premature (he was unemployed for "only three months" and the judge ordered he continue paying the previous amount, an amount he could no longer afford). When he returned to court a few months later, having obtained a new job, the increased his child support based on his new income, as it was slightly higher than the amount he was already paying based on his 2008 income.

    Since then, my husband lost this job due to 'company reorganization' as they called it, and is currenly unemployed. He has been searching for new employment, but having injured his back not long ago, he isn't able to put the same effort into finding a job as he would being in full health.

    We don't know what to do.

    It seems that each time we take the matter to court, it ends up costing us (arrears, legal costs of the other party, time off, travel expenses, etc.)

    The support recipient has unilaterally decided to enroll with the FRO because she fears my husband will "stop paying" due to his current unemployment... despite ALWAYS having provided timely and court-ordered payments, regardless of his financial situation. (Thanks to loans, borrowed money from family, etc.)

    My husband proposed to the support recipient to abide by the guidelines, and base his current support on his 2008 total income as per his tax return... until June 2010, when a new amount based on his 2009 total income will be determined and adjusted as of July 2010. This is what the Guidelines say, and this it what is written in the court order.

    Of course, the support recipient is against that principle because her child support will "drastically decline" next year due to my husband's unemployment this year.

    She feels that if we take the matter to court, the court will agree with her and will not grant my husband a reduction to a support amount based on his 2009 total income because "it would not be in the child's best interest." Especially if my husband has returned to work and is fully employed at the time of the court date. She believes the judge would side with her (again) and rule child support in an amount based on my husbands "current" income at the time of the court date.

    What is very scary is that we believe this may be true and may actually turn out to be the case if we take it to court.

    My husband and I are at our wits' end. We just don't know what to do. It seems that the guidelines NEVER apply to him, and time and time again he is made to overpay his legally obligated support, putting us into more financial difficulty.

    If anyone has any advice, suggestions, ideas, thoughts... please... we are desperate for anything that will help us achieve a FAIR calculation of child support.

    Thank you.

  • #2
    I have no ideas to give you. It would be nice if she would work with you guys on this but from your previous posts etc that will never happen. It sucks big time though.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by standing on the sidelines View Post
      I have no ideas to give you. It would be nice if she would work with you guys on this but from your previous posts etc that will never happen. It sucks big time though.
      Yes, it does suck big time.

      We feel that we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't... and that is just wrong.

      My husband wants nothing more than to be a responsible Father... to be in his child's life, to exercise his access and be financially responsible for his share of expenses. But he gets screwed every step he takes... be it mediation, meetings with lawyers, or court. It's like he's seen by everyone as a bottomless ATM machine... and I, as his wife with a good career, am the supplier of funds into that bottomless ATM.

      It is so frustrating and frightening.

      Comment

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