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ex in military, child support question

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Acceber

Guest
What is the name of your state? Nevada
My ex-husband is in the army, we are going back to court for a modification. He is an E-6 and currently paying only $200 per month for our one child. my question is why did the military report his income as base pay only and not include other entitlements such as housing allowance, and food allowance which together total $1050 tax free per month? does anyone know anything about this, is this common practice, should i fight it. income is income, whether it is taxed or not, right? i am so confused, can someone please help? any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)
 


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craftymom

Guest
Acceber said:

entitlements such as housing allowance, and food allowance
is this common practice
income is income, whether it is taxed or not, right?
basic pay is exactly that--- pay--- BAH and Seperate Rats are benefits--or entitlements-- due only to the service member

yes, it's common practice

the benefits are not income, per se, because the service member doesn't receive the actual monies, only the "value of" certain benefits/entitlements, which are part of the service member's contract to serve with the US military.
 
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Acceber

Guest
thank you craftymom for taking the time to reply to my post.
I would like to say first that the money is actually given directly to the service member, I am not talking about on base housing or a meal card, I am talking about actual income. also, i have been doing some research and it seems that colorado is quite strict about counting these entitlements as part of a service person's income because that is what they are.....part of the income, which says to me the these monies are not only to benefit the service member, but also his dependents.
 
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craftymom

Guest
Without going into too much detail, or making this too confusing....

The only time that I am aware of a service member receiving $$$ in lieu of on base housing and meal cards is to "cover" the expenses of housing and food. The money is to be used for the purposes of rent and meals. And this typically only because there is not any on base housing available. The $$$ are allotted based on rank, time in service, number of dependents, and an approved rental agreement. And, quite often, the housing "allowance" doesn't cover the actual amount of rent. Additionally, the housing allowance changes with each transfer due to cost of living in the area that the service member is stationed at. What a service member gets for housing in Louisiana, for example, is typically going to be significantly lower than what they would get in Virginia.

These benefits are given to the service member to fulfill the government's promise of "three hots and a cot".

And in a sense, you are correct about the dependents also receiving these benefits. As of now, your child is the ex's dependent, and he *will* receive these benefits when he is on his visitation with his father by having a roof over his head and food in the house.

I know it all gets really confusing sometimes with military income as far as "what is income and what is benefits?" . I come from a long line of service members, which includes my husband. If you have a link to that info in Colorado that you could post here, I would be very interested to read it. I would be surprised if a State law could overrule Federal--- but then, I'm not a lawyer, and I've been surprised before. :)
 
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CMSC

Senior Member
craftymom said:
Without going into too much detail, or making this too confusing....

The only time that I am aware of a service member receiving $$$ in lieu of on base housing and meal cards is to "cover" the expenses of housing and food. The money is to be used for the purposes of rent and meals. And this typically only because there is not any on base housing available. The $$$ are allotted based on rank, time in service, number of dependents, and an approved rental agreement. And, quite often, the housing "allowance" doesn't cover the actual amount of rent. Additionally, the housing allowance changes with each transfer due to cost of living in the area that the service member is stationed at. What a service member gets for housing in Louisiana, for example, is typically going to be significantly lower than what they would get in Virginia.

These benefits are given to the service member to fulfill the government's promise of "three hots and a cot".

And in a sense, you are correct about the dependents also receiving these benefits. As of now, your child is the ex's dependent, and he *will* receive these benefits when he is on his visitation with his father by having a roof over his head and food in the house.

I know it all gets really confusing sometimes with military income as far as "what is income and what is benefits?" . I come from a long line of service members, which includes my husband. If you have a link to that info in Colorado that you could post here, I would be very interested to read it. I would be surprised if a State law could overrule Federal--- but then, I'm not a lawyer, and I've been surprised before. :)

craftymom, has a good point. But i wanted to point something out that is pretty off topic but has to do with state/frederal law. It is illegal to perform partial birth abortion according to federal law (i believe) but it is legal in some states to perform it. There are quite a few other things in state law that if you go diggin they are illegal according to federal law. BUT state law NEVER overrides Federal law.

Atleast that is my belief but I may be waaaaaaay off! Wouldn't be the first time.

:D
 

Grace_Adler

Senior Member
Sorry, don't mean to hijack but I wish you'd tell that to the state of NC. They seem to think they are above Federal Law and the US Constitution as well as Federal case laws! :mad:
 

haiku

Senior Member
by doing a search in the forum, it would seem that each STATE will treat the housing allowance differently, pay attention to posts USMC Family, she always seemed to be up on military regs. some states do consider it income if the person receiving it lives off base, and is receiving the money directly.

Try it!

:)
 
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craftymom

Guest
Louisiana was like that too. But in that case, wouldn't a person just take it to appeals court all the way up until Federal Law either won out or was changed? :confused: Or am I being naive? (yes, I know how to spell the word, just can't find the umlaut to put above the 'i':D )
 
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craftymom

Guest
typing at the same time, haiku

I was thinking the same thing about USMCfamily. If memory serves, her husband works in base legal, and she may have a more definitive answer on the military/federal vs. state. The "money in pocket" vs. actual physical housing on base can be a very complicated issue.
 
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RY'sMOM

Guest
Good Luck!

Just wanted to say Good Luck trying to prove the military wrong in anyway!


My fiances ex is enlisted in the Army and currently owes $9400.00 in back child support....and the military refuses to do anything about it because she is high enough in rank. But...when my fiance was in and bounced ONE bad check he got the boot!


HMMMMMMMMMMMM!
 
A

Acceber

Guest
craftymom, I don't know how to post a link but here is the website where i found the info about colorado, it is a lawyer's website and i found the information quite interesting...CO not only counts BAH and seperate rats but also imputes income to those service members who are given housing or meals. Also, i did not even realize that that was state law overriding federal law, do you know where i could find that particular federal law posted?

http://law.carlgraham.com/lawyer-family/military-pay-income.html
go to family law, then military divorce, then "military pay and gross income."

thanks again for taking the time to reply

and thanks Ryry and haiku for replies also.

have a great day!!
 
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craftymom

Guest
As I said, I've been surprised before...... Thank you for posting the link and subsequent info. When I mentioned State law vs. Federal, I was referring to the Federal Contract that the service member and the government enter into. The government offers (among other things) meals and housing as a benefit. The service member offers their very life. I don't see how, or why, any spouse or ex-spouse should be able to "dip into" these benefits, and yes, that includes myself. The base pay that a service member receives, in my opinion, is more than enough to cover any (singular) Child Support order.
 
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susie521

Guest
Just had to add my two cents.... In my experience (California) all income is considered for a CS order. If you live on post - and therefore do not actually recieve the money in your paycheck - the housing allowance is not considered income. If you live off post, and there fore DO actually recieve the money (regardless of whether it actually meets your housing costs or not) the housing allowance IS considered. The same with seperate rations (food money) and even jump pay, hazardous duty pay and family seperation pay. Now, if an order was issued during a time when the NCP recieved haz duty or fam sep pay and is no longer recieveing it, the NCP can file for a change of support, based on a significant decrease in income. Using the same logic, a CP can file for increase in CS if the service member suddenly becomes eligible for jump pay, haz duty pay, etc, those these pays can often be for a short duration (six month deployemnt, etc)

I have seen it argued many times on the internet and several times in courts that nothing but base pay should be considerd, but have never seen it actually accepted in court. My experience is courts count all income - full time jobs, part time jobs, major interest bearing investements, and even ebay income on occasion. Mostly it seems to boil down to the state preference. If you feel the income was not calculated fairly, try to do something about it. Also - the military reported his income as only base pay? Didn't he have to prove income with his LES? The LES says exactly what he makes - including housing allowance if he actually recieves it.
 
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