Father threatens to quit job if I sue for support--is this legal?

[amosjo]

Hi,

I am interested in suing my child's father for child support, but he threatens to quit his job and not work in order to avoid payments. Well, the point would be to sting me, actually. He probably could do this, as he makes quite a lot of money and could live for several months without a paycheck. First, I will ennumerate some facts, and then I will ask some specific questions.

1. He and I were never married, and have one child together, who is now 2.
2. Said child is in full-time day care, at $525/month.
3. He has 2 children from a previous marriage, ages 13 and 10, to whom he pays $900/month child support. They do not have day care expenses.
4. I make $43,000 per year, and he made $90,000 last year. His base salary is lower, but he receives many bonuses because of pager duty, awards, profit-sharing, etc.
5. He has many assets, such as a house, mountain property, stock, a paid-for car, gold coins, guns, and other valuable things.
6. I have never tried to collect child support before.
8. Our child is with him 3 days a week; with me, 4 days.
9. Besides day care, I buy everything for her, such as clothes, diapers, food, medicine, and so forth.
10. He pays her health insurance and therefore claims her as his dependent on taxes.
11. We both live in Colorado.

There might be other important details, feel free to ask if I missed something. My questions:

1. What are my rights, as a single mother, and my child's rights?
2. Can he legally quit his job in order to evade child support payments?
3. If he does quit his job, is there a recourse? For example, can I seize his property?
4. With his ex-wife, he played hardball and insisted that child support be based on his base salary, not including his bonuses. He said he would stop taking pager duty and so forth, if she did. However, I know him well enough to know that is a bluff and he would continue to get money any way he can (legally, of course--he's a jerk, but not a crook). How hard would it be to call his bluff and force him to report his salary including bonuses?
5. Can I claim her as my dependent, even though she's on his health insurance?

I think that is all--for now! Any help is appreciated. However, please be kind to a newbie and reply only if you are a lawyer or have specific experience or information on this type of situation. I don't really need to hear what kind of a jerk he is; I already know.

Thanks,
Amy

 

[LegalBeagle]

Hi,

I am interested in suing my child's father for child support, but he threatens to quit his job and not work in order to avoid payments. Well, the point would be to sting me, actually. He probably could do this, as he makes quite a lot of money and could live for several months without a paycheck. First, I will ennumerate some facts, and then I will ask some specific questions.

1. He and I were never married, and have one child together, who is now 2.
2. Said child is in full-time day care, at $525/month.
3. He has 2 children from a previous marriage, ages 13 and 10, to whom he pays $900/month child support. They do not have day care expenses.
4. I make $43,000 per year, and he made $90,000 last year. His base salary is lower, but he receives many bonuses because of pager duty, awards, profit-sharing, etc.
5. He has many assets, such as a house, mountain property, stock, a paid-for car, gold coins, guns, and other valuable things.
6. I have never tried to collect child support before.
8. Our child is with him 3 days a week; with me, 4 days.
9. Besides day care, I buy everything for her, such as clothes, diapers, food, medicine, and so forth.
10. He pays her health insurance and therefore claims her as his dependent on taxes.
11. We both live in Colorado.

There might be other important details, feel free to ask if I missed something. My questions:

1. What are my rights, as a single mother, and my child's rights?
2. Can he legally quit his job in order to evade child support payments?
3. If he does quit his job, is there a recourse? For example, can I seize his property?
4. With his ex-wife, he played hardball and insisted that child support be based on his base salary, not including his bonuses. He said he would stop taking pager duty and so forth, if she did. However, I know him well enough to know that is a bluff and he would continue to get money any way he can (legally, of course--he's a jerk, but not a crook). How hard would it be to call his bluff and force him to report his salary including bonuses?
5. Can I claim her as my dependent, even though she's on his health insurance?

I think that is all--for now! Any help is appreciated. However, please be kind to a newbie and reply only if you are a lawyer or have specific experience or information on this type of situation. I don't really need to hear what kind of a jerk he is; I already know.

Thanks,
Amy

1. Not sure I understand what you are asking here. Do you have proper legal court ordered custody ?
2. No, and the added twist to this is that he already pays CS to someone else. If he was to quit his job then he would have to continue to pay this. All you would have to do in court is state that the moment he was served papers for CS, he quit. State his business, skills and experience and how easy it is for him to get a job. Judges are not stupid, they will see what he has done and award CS accordingly. Besides, he will only hurt himself in the long run.
3. No, because there is no CS award in place. If there is, and he goes into arrears, then you can look at other ways to get that money.
4. All you need is his last 3 years tax returns.. You will be able to work out an average of the extra money. The CS award will be calculated on this. If he then stops earning the extra money, then in 6-12 months he can petition to have the CS lowered. But, it will not work out to his advantage during the initial CS petition as you look BACK at his earnings.
5. Yes!

 

[amosjo]

1. Not sure I understand what you are asking here. Do you have proper legal court ordered custody ?

No, we don't have a court-ordered custody. We have been a couple until now, and haven't really needed it. He's a good father, and so we agreed that she can stay with him 3 nights a week. I don't know exactly what I was asking, except maybe some general guidelines for custodial single mothers.

But I forgot one other question on my OP. Approx. how much could I expect in monthly child support payments? Not being greedy here, but he currently pays the $525/month day care in full, and I don't want the hassle of court-ordered child support payments if they will be less than that. He currently pays $450/month for each of his 2 other kids (totaling $900), but they don't have day care expenses, and that amount is based on his base salary, excluding bonuses. (The difference in his base salary and added bonuses is significant.) I tried using the online calculator, but it said a judge has to decide for gross monthly salaries over $10,000. I'd just like an approximate, so I know if I should take this any further.

Thanks,
Amy