Newborn Child Support Payments

[kiad123]

My question involves child support in the State of: Colorado

My ex-girlfriend just recently gave birth to my daughter. She got pregnant at the very end of our relationship and we weren't able to reconcile our differences. We attempted to work out a parenting plan, but she was only willing to give me 10 hours a week of supervised visitation for the first year of our daughters life, with overnights not beginning until a year and a half. I am a father of 2 twins and have 75% custody of them, I am by all accounts an excellent Father so there is no justification for her need to supervise my visits. Additionally, these visits are difficult as I'd have 2 toddlers in tow. Right now it looks like we're in for a long legal battle, I'm assuming the interim parenting plan won't give me any overnights. Since the Colorado child support worksheet is based on overnights does this mean she has 100% custody? Does the child support calculation take into account the $1600 I'm currently paying a month for day care of my twins? I'm afraid that if she can claim 100% custody the child support payments are going to make it very difficult if not impossible for me to meet my current obligations.

Additionally, does anyone have any insight on when Colorado will grant overnight visitation when both parents are equally capable of child care? Our daughter will be in day care as soon as she goes back to work so she's already planning on pumping. I've done tons of research and it appears that it's in the best interest of our daughter to have overnights as soon as possible, but she very much disagrees and I know traditionally courts tend to stay away from overnights early on.

Any insight anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

[Dogmatique]

No, the CS formula won't take into account $1600 you're paying for other children you've chosen to make.

Seriously.

[llworking]

No, the CS formula won't take into account $1600 you're paying for other children you've chosen to make.

Seriously.

However, I strongly suspect that you can do better pricewise on daycare for two children than 1600.00 a month. It may be time to look into other options.

- - - Updated - - -

My question involves child support in the State of: Colorado

My ex-girlfriend just recently gave birth to my daughter. She got pregnant at the very end of our relationship and we weren't able to reconcile our differences. We attempted to work out a parenting plan, but she was only willing to give me 10 hours a week of supervised visitation for the first year of our daughters life, with overnights not beginning until a year and a half. I am a father of 2 twins and have 75% custody of them, I am by all accounts an excellent Father so there is no justification for her need to supervise my visits. Additionally, these visits are difficult as I'd have 2 toddlers in tow. Right now it looks like we're in for a long legal battle, I'm assuming the interim parenting plan won't give me any overnights. Since the Colorado child support worksheet is based on overnights does this mean she has 100% custody? Does the child support calculation take into account the $1600 I'm currently paying a month for day care of my twins? I'm afraid that if she can claim 100% custody the child support payments are going to make it very difficult if not impossible for me to meet my current obligations.

Additionally, does anyone have any insight on when Colorado will grant overnight visitation when both parents are equally capable of child care? Our daughter will be in day care as soon as she goes back to work so she's already planning on pumping. I've done tons of research and it appears that it's in the best interest of our daughter to have overnights as soon as possible, but she very much disagrees and I know traditionally courts tend to stay away from overnights early on.

Any insight anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

First, its going to take some time to get the whole thing in front of a judge for a decision to even be made, and then most likely there will be some phases...not because you are not experienced in caring for children, but simply to allow the child to get comfortable with you before spending the night with you. I suspect that logistically the best you can hope for is starting overnights somewhere between 6-12 months.

[gam]

My question involves child support in the State of: Colorado

My ex-girlfriend just recently gave birth to my daughter. She got pregnant at the very end of our relationship and we weren't able to reconcile our differences. We attempted to work out a parenting plan, but she was only willing to give me 10 hours a week of supervised visitation for the first year of our daughters life, with overnights not beginning until a year and a half. I am a father of 2 twins and have 75% custody of them, I am by all accounts an excellent Father so there is no justification for her need to supervise my visits. Additionally, these visits are difficult as I'd have 2 toddlers in tow. Right now it looks like we're in for a long legal battle, I'm assuming the interim parenting plan won't give me any overnights. Since the Colorado child support worksheet is based on overnights does this mean she has 100% custody? Does the child support calculation take into account the $1600 I'm currently paying a month for day care of my twins? I'm afraid that if she can claim 100% custody the child support payments are going to make it very difficult if not impossible for me to meet my current obligations.

Additionally, does anyone have any insight on when Colorado will grant overnight visitation when both parents are equally capable of child care? Our daughter will be in day care as soon as she goes back to work so she's already planning on pumping. I've done tons of research and it appears that it's in the best interest of our daughter to have overnights as soon as possible, but she very much disagrees and I know traditionally courts tend to stay away from overnights early on.

Any insight anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Does mom work the night shift?

If no do you seriously think mom is going to be able to pump for her work schedule and then pump so you can have overnights? At some point mom has to do some actual breastfeedings in order to produce enough milk, pumping alone won't keep up her milk supply. Since your into research, I suggest you contact your local hospital and ask to speak with their lactation nurse and get as much information as possible on breastfeeding. A newborn breastfeeds on average every 2 hours round the clock. As the newborn gets a bit older, they drink more and the time between feedings will be longer, but you can't count on that either, every baby is different. You can't pump out a full feeding at one breast pump session, you only manage to get about 2 oz's by pumping, and the average newborn drinks about 4 oz's. So it takes several pumpings to get enough for one actual feeding. Mom can't work if she has no breastmilk saved up, and mom is going to have an almost impossible time trying to pump for an 8 hour shift of work and pump for overnights that your wanting.

You need to think this out, and try to work with mom, so baby gets some actual feedings and mom can cover her work schedule and some visits for you with what she pumps.

She can make this work, cover her work schedule and cover frequent short visits for you on a regular basis, with little problems. So there is no reason you can't get a couple of hours every day or every other day, unsupervised. There is no reason why you can't take the baby out of her home when she establishes her pumping supply. Once the baby starts on solids(recommendation now is to introduce solids at 6 months of age), your parenting time can increase in length, as the baby won't have such frequent breastmilk feedings. Once this feeding schedule of solids and breastmilk gets going, overnights can easily be worked in.

I've seen the above work in many situations, every court is different, can't say what your court will do. But the above works well with a breastfeeding, working mom and a split situation. Perhaps talking to mom and trying to come to compromise of something like the above, might get you further then a long, expensive, drug out court case. If you and mom have different working schedules, try and work that out to save you both some costs on daycare. It appears though if your paying $1600 a month on daycare for your twins, then you are not actually available for a good portion of a day, as your working.

The court is not going to care that you have 2 toddlers to tow around with you, they will say "you should have thought about that before you chose to have another baby". You can try and work something out with mom, that you do pick ups from her, and she pick the child back up from you at the end of your time, this would help in dragging your 2 other children around. Or you can do what many others do, they find a friend, relative or other parent and trade off these short periods of time with each other by watching each others children for fee, again that way you won't be dragging them out so much for you time with your other child.

Just keep in mind you have 3 kids, you already have a huge daycare bill, you will be paying daycare on this other child to, child support, and adding a huge fight in court into this, well ya might want to think of how to avoid more costs. Don't be so stuck on what you want, try compromising, try figuring out a graduated schedule. Not sure what research ya read, but I've seen kids start overnights between 6 months and 1 year old, and I don't see how it harmed them at all to not have overnights from day one. You have 18 years with this mom, why start out in such a tug of war already?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Per the 2008 Colorado Child Support Guidelines:

Gross income includes income from any source and includes, but is not limited to, income from salaries; wages, including tips declared by the individual for purposes of reporting to the federal internal revenue service or tips imputed to bring the employee’s gross earnings to the minimum wage for the number of hours worked, whichever is greater; commissions; payments received as an independent contractor for labor or services; bonuses; dividends; severance pay; pensions and retirement benefits; royalties; rents; interest; trust income; annuities; capital gains; and moneys drawn by a self-employed individual for personal use; social security benefits, including social security benefits actually received by a parent as a result of the disability of that parent or as the result of the death of the minor child’s stepparent; workers’ compensation benefits; unemployment insurance benefits; disability insurance benefits; funds held in or payable from any health, accident, disability, or casualty insurance to the extent that such insurance replaces wages or provides income in lieu of wages; monetary gifts; monetary prizes, excluding lottery winnings not required by the rules of the Colorado Lottery Commission to be paid only at the lottery office; taxable distributions from general partnerships, limited partnerships, closely held corporations, or limited liablity companies; alimony or maintenance received; and overtime pay only if the overtime is required by the employer as a condition of the employment....

The amount(s) of any pre-existing court order(s) for child support (Line lc) should be deducted from gross income to the extent payment is actually made under such order(s).

The amount of legal responsibility a parent has for children not involved in this action, but living in his/her home, should be deducted from gross income on Line ld. For children not living at home, documented proof of money payments for support of those children is required. The adjustment applies to a party’s natural or adopted children, but not to stepchildren, unless a prior court order has established a party’s legal responsibility for them. Use of the adjustment is appropriate at the time of the establishment of a child support order or in a proceeding to modify an existing order. However, it may not be used to the extent the adjustment contributes to the calculation of a support order lower than the previously existing order for the children who are the subject of the modification proceeding. The amount entered on Line ld should be 75% of the amount listed in the schedule of basic support obligations which would represent 75% of a support obligation based only on the responsible parent’s gross income, without any other adjustments, for the number of children for whom the parent is also responsible, pursuant to §14-10-115(6(b)(I) C.R.S.

[horseyjess]

Does mom work the night shift?

If no do you seriously think mom is going to be able to pump for her work schedule and then pump so you can have overnights? At some point mom has to do some actual breastfeedings in order to produce enough milk, pumping alone won't keep up her milk supply. Since your into research, I suggest you contact your local hospital and ask to speak with their lactation nurse and get as much information as possible on breastfeeding. A newborn breastfeeds on average every 2 hours round the clock. As the newborn gets a bit older, they drink more and the time between feedings will be longer, but you can't count on that either, every baby is different. You can't pump out a full feeding at one breast pump session, you only manage to get about 2 oz's by pumping, and the average newborn drinks about 4 oz's. So it takes several pumpings to get enough for one actual feeding. Mom can't work if she has no breastmilk saved up, and mom is going to have an almost impossible time trying to pump for an 8 hour shift of work and pump for overnights that your wanting.

You need to think this out, and try to work with mom, so baby gets some actual feedings and mom can cover her work schedule and some visits for you with what she pumps.

She can make this work, cover her work schedule and cover frequent short visits for you on a regular basis, with little problems. So there is no reason you can't get a couple of hours every day or every other day, unsupervised. There is no reason why you can't take the baby out of her home when she establishes her pumping supply. Once the baby starts on solids(recommendation now is to introduce solids at 6 months of age), your parenting time can increase in length, as the baby won't have such frequent breastmilk feedings. Once this feeding schedule of solids and breastmilk gets going, overnights can easily be worked in.

I've seen the above work in many situations, every court is different, can't say what your court will do. But the above works well with a breastfeeding, working mom and a split situation. Perhaps talking to mom and trying to come to compromise of something like the above, might get you further then a long, expensive, drug out court case. If you and mom have different working schedules, try and work that out to save you both some costs on daycare. It appears though if your paying $1600 a month on daycare for your twins, then you are not actually available for a good portion of a day, as your workin?

One day a week to pump 24 hours is not gonna kill moms supply! There is no reason why dad couldnt get the child at say 8am saturday and return the infant at 8am sunday. Using breastfeeding as an excuse not to let the infant/father bond develop is bull. I breastfed, went back to work when my youngest was 12 weeks old. Work 12 hr shifts and pumped at work no issues. I was able to breast feed with a VERY occassional formula bottle till she was 11.5 months old. But then I had to seperated from her for up to 10 days while hubby had surgery so weaned.

[llworking]

One day a week to pump 24 hours is not gonna kill moms supply! There is no reason why dad couldnt get the child at say 8am saturday and return the infant at 8am sunday. Using breastfeeding as an excuse not to let the infant/father bond develop is bull. I breastfed, went back to work when my youngest was 12 weeks old. Work 12 hr shifts and pumped at work no issues. I was able to breast feed with a VERY occassional formula bottle till she was 11.5 months old. But then I had to seperated from her for up to 10 days while hubby had surgery so weaned.

That is wonderful that you had such a good supply of breastmilk that you were able to pump that much. Not everyone is blessed with the same supply.

[horseyjess]

That is wonderful that you had such a good supply of breastmilk that you were able to pump that much. Not everyone is blessed with the same supply.

You have to work on it but, it is not a reason to keep a child from its father. If you can work and be seperated then you can be seperated for a day a week for the infant to have bonding time with the father!

[Dogmatique]

You have to work on it but, it is not a reason to keep a child from its father. If you can work and be seperated then you can be seperated for a day a week for the infant to have bonding time with the father!

Jess, ll's point is simple: Some women just CANNOT - no matter how often they try, or whether they have 24/7 access to La Leche nurses - successfully pump to any great degree.

[shortie]

My ex got overnights as soon as my child was 2 weeks old. We were married though. It's only one per week, for 18 hours though. However, it was won for him through mediation. Basically, he told me if I didn't allow him an overnight, he would file a motion for standard visitation, which in KY is every other weekend, even for newborns. His defense was that a judge may say, "Oh, he's only asking for standard, so he can have it." So the 18 hours was a good compromise, and I get a night off to get some rest every week. I like having a night to myself. I don't know what Colorado standard is. My lawyer told me that she has seen our family court judge award overnights to newborns' fathers, and she has seen the judge deny overnights due to breastfeeding. So it all depends on the situation. You never know.

As far as breastfeeding goes, the only difficulty on pumping would be for the very first visit. If she works, then she has to pump at work, thus having enough for the next day she works when the child is in childcare. If the baby is on a visit with dad, she will have to pump while the baby is gone, meaning she'll have enough for the next visit with dad.

Basically, I am saying it all evens out with pumping. It's not like you have to build up a supply for a whole week you're working. You do it day by day.