X has decided he can't afford child support anymore.

[leighannp]

I have been divorced for 8 years. I live in MO he is in MI. My X and i were given joint custody. with usual visitation. He proceded to move out of state within couple of months of divorce, so the visitaiton in divorce decree has never been followed. I have let him see the kids whenever he can and have let them stay for a couple of months with him over summer vacation. After divorce he declared bankruptcy which is another story, but he apparently regrouped made more money and has been paying the same child support since the day of the divorce. Now after being married for 4 years and incurring new debt has decided he has to file bankruptcy again and has informed me he will be taking me back to court to lower his child support due to his current financial circumstances. Here are my questions.

1) Since he has been able to make same payments of cs for 8 years wouldn't it be almost impossible for any court to determine that now after all this time he can't afford it. He has NOT lost his job. In fact during the last 8 years his income has probably more than doubled at a certain point. (it is prob. somewhat lower now due to self-employed and business is slow) thus, claiming bankrptcy. But When his income increased significantly it was never increased. Won't the courts take his income highs over the years in to affect? Yes, my income has increased also over years, but never have I made as much as him.

2) Also, won't they take into affect that he does not have the kids as stated in decree? I do know now there is some monetary preference given to "How often" a parent has physical custody.

3) Do courts also make modifications based on cost of living increases and ages of children?

4) Also, he is currently 2 months behind in child support. It is ordered in decree to be paid at the beginning of the month every month. In our divorce decree it states "In the event of the breach of the Agreement by any party hereto, and Husband and Wife required to employ an attorney to enforce the terms of this Agreement, the party breaching the Agreement shall pay a reasonable attorney fee to the aggrieved party hereto."
Does this clearly indicate I should get a lawyer and he will be responsible for my legal fees?

 

[haiku]

check the website www.supportguidelines.com to read up on the laws and find a calculator fo rthe state your decree is in.

as to your questions, bankruptcy is not a valid reason for child support to be lowered or taken away, so dont worry about that. Child support is not a debt it is an obligation. It is his CURRENT income they look at, and usually not only do they look at his current w-2's, 1099's, paystubs, and financial statements, they may also look at the past few years income tax returns, to track his income highs and lows. they did this in my husbands case when she was asking for an increase, and he needed to show he was consistently making what he was making since the last time it had been reviewed.

visitation as stated in decree, may or may not make a difference depending on your state, unless the support was set lower from the getgo because he was supposed to have the kids a certain amount of time.

Yes most states do grant increases for ages and cost of living, if yo uhave an online calculator fo ryour state, it will tell you.

Yes that does mean that he has to pay your fees,BUT you will still likely have to pay your lawyer up front, and then be reimbursed by him. BTDT

good luck