My husband has a child in Louisiana. We live in Mississippi. In 2004, paternity was established and he was ordered to pay $525 per month. At that time he was making $43,000 per year. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit, and our home was very damaged, and we lost our jobs. After the storm, we went back to court for a reduction. At that time, my husband was not working for 3 reasons: 1.) the place that he worked (a casino) was destroyed; 2.) our home flooded, and we did not have flood insurance, so we rebuilt it completely ourselves (did all the work ourselves). We worked on it literally from dawn to dusk 7 days a week for a year; and 3.) There were not many jobs to be had in our area after the storm.

When my husband went to court in 2005, he was not prepared. His attorney didn't do a very good job. The judge acted like he was a dead-beat, which is not the case. Because he has a bachelor's degree, the judge said he was voluntarily underemployed. She did reduce the order to $450 per month.

Our circumstances have changed. My husband was previosuly married for 10 years and had 3 children with his ex-wife. In April of 2006, his ex-wife moved out of state and signed custody of the kids to my husband. He has full custody of the 3 kids, and the ex-wife only pays $100 a month per child. My husband also has a child in AL which he pays $300 a month in court-ordered child support.

The $450 per month child support that he pays in Louisiana is killing us now that we have custody of the 3 kids from his previous marriage.

He also only grosses $2800 per month. The job that he has requires a bachelor degree, so he is working to his full potential. He can also show the court that he has been actively seeking employment that pays more, but hasn't been hired because he is not qualified.

I have been reading the LA support guidelines, specifically about deviating from the guidelines because of the legal responsibility for other children.

I am looking for some opinions about going back to court to seek a reduction. Would it even be worth it?

I know that the child's mother grosses $2666 per month, pays $144 per month for daycare, and pays $26 per month for health insurance.

How does the court asses how much they will deviate from the guidelines when my husband has custody of his 3 kids?

Thanks in advance.