Can't Afford Guideline Support

My question involves child support in the State of: CA

I posted this in another forum, but was bascially ripped to shreds. I'm hoping someone here can give me some contructive advice.

My question involves child support in the state of CA.

Hi,

The mother of my child and I just finished a custody case. I was asking for primary custody, but lost. We did go to mediation and the mediator gave me about 27% parenting time, but I really wanted custody so I objected to the mediation and went to trial. In the judges ruling, he ordered everything stay the status quo, which is every other weekend, split holidays and 2 weeks in the summer. That equals about 19% parenting time.

From the time my child was little, I tried to pay as much support as I could. I was paying $200 a month up until August of 2006. At that time, my car broke down and I asked the mother if I could hold off on payments. She agreed, so I have not paid anything in 3 years.

After the custody hearing, my childs mother filed for child support. I think she did it out of spite because she was mad about my custody motion. I had a meeting with the child support agency last week and they are telling me they are going to garnish my wages and I'll have to pay $900 a month!

I have told my child's mother I can't afford this much and she refuses to respond to me. The child support case worker told me I can go before a judge to appeal the amount, so I am going to do that. What can I tell him to get the amount lowered? As I understand it, my house payment, truck payment, etc are irrelevant in this calculation.

I'm really scared here. $900 a month would devastate my finances. I would probably lose my house. If anyone has any advice as to what might convince a judge to lower my payments, I would appreciate it.

Sorry, but there was no excuse to not pay support for your child, even if your car broke down. Come on you didn't pay for THREE years. Your child still had needs, ligitimate needs, not made up needs out of spite.

You can try to get the amount lowered, or do what lots of us single parents have had to do when we didn't get child support, get a second job.

I know this sounds harsh, but there are some things in our lives that we THINK are requirements, but really aren't. Cut as many bills as you can (cable, going out to eat, etc), like I'm sure your child's mother had to do for the three years that your child recieved no support.

If you can't get the support lowered to a more reasonable amount, sit down make out a budget, figure out what you can do with out, and then get a second job to make up the rest.

Good luck.

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Quoting AlexanderDumas

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My question involves child support in the State of: CA

I posted this in another forum, but was bascially ripped to shreds. I'm hoping someone here can give me some contructive advice.

My question involves child support in the state of CA.

Hi,

The mother of my child and I just finished a custody case. I was asking for primary custody, but lost. We did go to mediation and the mediator gave me about 27% parenting time, but I really wanted custody so I objected to the mediation and went to trial. In the judges ruling, he ordered everything stay the status quo, which is every other weekend, split holidays and 2 weeks in the summer. That equals about 19% parenting time.

From the time my child was little, I tried to pay as much support as I could. I was paying $200 a month up until August of 2006. At that time, my car broke down and I asked the mother if I could hold off on payments. She agreed, so I have not paid anything in 3 years.

After the custody hearing, my childs mother filed for child support. I think she did it out of spite because she was mad about my custody motion. I had a meeting with the child support agency last week and they are telling me they are going to garnish my wages and I'll have to pay $900 a month!

I have told my child's mother I can't afford this much and she refuses to respond to me. The child support case worker told me I can go before a judge to appeal the amount, so I am going to do that. What can I tell him to get the amount lowered? As I understand it, my house payment, truck payment, etc are irrelevant in this calculation.

I'm really scared here. $900 a month would devastate my finances. I would probably lose my house. If anyone has any advice as to what might convince a judge to lower my payments, I would appreciate it.

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The CS is set according to the state guidelines based on incomes.
If the $900.00 is the guideline amount, you will have to figure out some way to pay it and pay your other bills at the same time.

I realize that this comes as a shock to you, especially when you were paying far less than guideline amount, and that ex agreed to accept no money at all for the last 3 years. However, it is what it is, and you have not posted anything that would allow for a deviation from the guideline amount.

You should look into getting a second job, or if you are in a situation where you could move to a less expensive home, or sell your truck and buy a less expensive one, etc.

You didn't mention any retro support, so you should consider yourself fortunate that you aren't being also hit with many thousands of dollars in retro support.

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Quoting Xena

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The CS is set according to the state guidelines based on incomes.
If the $900.00 is the guideline amount, you will have to figure out some way to pay it and pay your other bills at the same time.

I realize that this comes as a shock to you, especially when you were paying far less than guideline amount, and that ex agreed to accept no money at all for the last 3 years. However, it is what it is, and you have not posted anything that would allow for a deviation from the guideline amount.

You should look into getting a second job, or if you are in a situation where you could move to a less expensive home, or sell your truck and buy a less expensive one, etc.

You didn't mention any retro support, so you should consider yourself fortunate that you aren't being also hit with many thousands of dollars in retro support.

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Hi Xena,

Thank you for your response. I am slowly realizing it's going to be pointless to appear before a judge and ask for a lower amount.

Regarding arrears, there was no established child support order before now. Could she really go after arrears if she wanted to? How could I be responsible for arrears if there was never a previous support order?

I don't know what I am going to do. I feel like she is doing this because she is angry with me over the custody hearing. This is going to affect our daugher as well if I lose my house.

You are responsible for support no matter if there is a support order or not.
Your ex can ask for arrears. It depends on what state you are for how many years back they can go.

The affect all of this has on your daughter will have a lot to do with how you react to this in front of her.
Please do not talk bad about her mother in front of her and PLEASE do not complain about how much the support is in front of her. She is a child and these are adult issues.
If you keep your home warm and inviting, she will not be affected by a move to a smaller house or appartment at all.
Children need food, shelter, love and support. The rest are just "things".

Your ex maybe angry over the custody hearing, but it could have been worse. After all she let you get away without paying support for YOUR child for three years. Then offered you what, in hind sight, was a good visitiation plan and you decided to take her to court anyway. You are lucky that she didn't go after arears as well.

If you get a second job, you will be hauled back in for a modification hearing, because you are making more money, and your support amout will go up...trust me. The more you make, the more the mother will get for support. period. It does not matter that you got a second job so you can afford your bills.

I know this is not what you want to hear, but that is just the way the child support system works. I'm not sure about your state laws, but in PA, they can take 55% of your wages if you are only supporting one child/family. What percent of your paycheck are they taking? If they are taking more than that, you might have a reason to appeal it.

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Quoting jmjens2

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You are responsible for support no matter if there is a support order or not.

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Legally, no, he's not.

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Your ex can ask for arrears. It depends on what state you are for how many years back they can go.

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The state in question is CA, if you would have read the first post. You can't "ask" for arrears, the court orders them. CS will go back to the date of filing. No further.

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Quoting lbbk

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If you get a second job, you will be hauled back in for a modification hearing, because you are making more money, and your support amout will go up...trust me.

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Actually, I wouldn't trust you as far as this statement is concerned. You cannot go immediately after a modification after an order was just written.

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Quoting CourtClerk

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Legally, no, he's not.

The state in question is CA, if you would have read the first post. You can't "ask" for arrears, the court orders them. CS will go back to the date of filing. No further.


Actually, I wouldn't trust you as far as this statement is concerned. You cannot go immediately after a modification after an order was just written.

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Oh yes you can. You can ask for a modification any time that there is a chance in circumstance such as increase in income.

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Quoting lbbk

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Oh yes you can. You can ask for a modification any time that there is a chance in circumstance such as increase in income.

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I'm wondering how many new CS orders in CA you have attempted to modify? How many times you've read CSSD's guidelines on support modifications at all? CSSD only finds a modification warranted IN CA if the support will change by 20% of $50 and the courts absolutely will not modify a new support order....

So, how much experience do you have in CA courts????

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Quoting CourtClerk

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I'm wondering how many new CS orders in CA you have attempted to modify? How many times you've read CSSD's guidelines on support modifications at all? CSSD only finds a modification warranted IN CA if the support will change by 20% of $50 and the courts absolutely will not modify a new support order....

So, how much experience do you have in CA courts????

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Thank you CourtClerk. I appreciate your input. Since you do have experience in California, do you have any advice on what I can say to the judge at the child support hearing? Any advice is appreciated.

Also, how often to judges deviate from guideline support?

Thank you