Child Support and Second Families

My question involves child support in the State of: Michigan

My fiance and I are to be married next year and he has a baby with a woman who has no income, and on welfare.
I'm not trying to put her down by saying that but I notice the system is different to him, than it is to a working mom.
He works two jobs so he can get caught on his back support. It took the courts a long time
to get the order in action so he has over 1,500 in arrears. His child's mom does not and refuses to work. She has been
a thorn in his side since day one. He loves his child very much and is a good dad and understands this is his duty but neither
of us understand why she refuses to work. She has sitters who can help, and so can we but she wants to limit as much time
possible for him to have his child and her attorney helps make that happen. Right now, he only gets his son a couple times a week.
The question I have, is if we decide to have our own child, (my clock is ticking and it's kinda now or never) can she
try and get more child support if his income remains the exact same as it is now with a 2nd child? My 2nd question is,
she has a FREE attorney, and he has his own attorney he pays, and once her attorney tried getting my income and I refused to write it down.
Nothing came about it but I worried when we got married they would try again. I was told from his attorney that I am not responsible for support
unless I have shared and joint accounts with him or if he is added to the deed of my house or ownership of my vehicle. We plan on keeping all our
accounts separate and the deed and vehicle in my name only. Is this information accurate?

Quote:

---

Quoting PaulineP

---

The question I have, is if we decide to have our own child, (my clock is ticking and it's kinda now or never) can she
try and get more child support if his income remains the exact same as it is now with a 2nd child?

---

She can try to get more child support if she believes his income has changed. The question of whether he has zero, one or forty additional children is not relevant to whether or not his income has changed. She does not have to take his word for it, that his income is unchanged, but if she petitions for modification of support he would submit proof of income to the court.

Quote:

---

Quoting PaulineP

---

I was told from his attorney that I am not responsible for support unless I have shared and joint accounts with him or if he is added to the deed of my house or ownership of my vehicle.

---

What the attorney probably in fact said was that if you have a joint bank account she may try to garnish her arrears from the joint account. The attorney probably also said that when you have a joint asset you raise the possibility that she will try to collect arrears from the proceeds at the time of sale.

If she's on certain types of welfare, he's going to get the bill for it from the State.

With regards to custody and visitation, this is a baby, yes? Then his visitation is right about normal (whether or not I or anyone else thinks this is "fair", is irrelevant). Couple of times a week is normal for a baby with two unwed and estranged parents.

Thank you for those answers. Yes this is a baby. So basically, it sounds like I should just keep my finances in my own account, keep my vehicle in my name only, and have no shared joint accounts? And only if his income goes up, she can try and get more support? And I didn't know that about fathers and visitation. I know a lot of other single dads, who got overnights right away. So that was surprising to me. He is suppose to get overnights in the winter. So when child is 1 1/2 years of age.

- - - Updated - - -

The attorney spoke to him about it and then him to me so your probably right in what he said. Ok we just leave all money separate.

Yes, keep your finances separate.

Yes, if his income changes, she can file to modify.

Well, it's not winter yet, is it?

Thank you. And no it isn't winter yet. We are looking forward to having overnights!

And if you have children together, that will make no difference. His first family.has priority.

Michigan's child support formula does take additional children into consideration when determining net income for calculating support.

Quote:

---

Quoting Michigan Child Support Formula, Sec. 2.08(B)

---

When a parent has additional minor children (whether living in that parent’s household or for whom the parent pays child support), net income for calculating support in the present case does not include the portion of that parent’s incom e reserved for supporting those additional children calculated according to both of the following steps:

(1) Deduct from a parent’s income dollar-for-dollar the portion of that parent’s health insurance premiums used to cover qualifying additional children. Calculate the premium deduction by dividing the premium by the number of individuals covered ( including the parent) and multiply by the number of qualifying additional children covered.

(2) After subtracting qualifying additional children’s health care coverage costs, multiply that parent’s remaining net income by the Additional Children table’s Adjustment Multiplier to determine net income to use for the present case.

Additional Children Number of Children - Adjustment Multiplier
1 - 85%
2 - 77%
3 - 72%
4 - 69%
5 or more - 66%

---

Pauline, I know you didn't ask about this but I want to mention it anyway. Dad needs to make sure his visitation order is specific when it comes to dates and times. Otherwise, Mom can play games without too much risk of repercussions. Vague orders are not what he wants.

My apologies. Thank you Mr. Knowitall