Custodial Parent Not Working

[juliana21]

San Diego, CA

My ex g/f mother to our 3 year old son has not a single day during the last 3 years, and about a year prior to the birth of our child. I have never had contact with our child due to her move to OR. When they factored in her amount of income it was set at zero. She claimed to be on SSI but there is no proof of SSI in the file. Even on her income sheet she claimed zero for SSI ass well as disability. She did have a priors years earning which did not amount to much over 3 grand but did show that she was capable of working. Recently I found out that she has chosen not to work and go to school. I thought that even if a parent is not working that a full time minimum wage is supposed to be calculated as potential earning. I recently went down and talked to a case worker that would not explain why her portion was calculated as a zero. I also learned that when I am admin discharged from the military, due to my clearance issues related to debt that was a direct result of the grand I pay in child support. I learned that my potential earning will be calculated at a rate of 10-12 an hour since I have 8 years military experience. Except hears the kicker due to losing my clearance the last 8 years of military experience count for nothing. I was also informed that I don't get to just choose to go to school. My question is this are the calculations even being done correctly and is she really allowed to full custodial rights while I sit and pay for everything.

 

[mistoffolees]

San Diego, CA

My ex g/f mother to our 3 year old son has not a single day during the last 3 years, and about a year prior to the birth of our child. I have never had contact with our child due to her move to OR. When they factored in her amount of income it was set at zero. She claimed to be on SSI but there is no proof of SSI in the file. Even on her income sheet she claimed zero for SSI ass well as disability. She did have a priors years earning which did not amount to much over 3 grand but did show that she was capable of working. Recently I found out that she has chosen not to work and go to school. I thought that even if a parent is not working that a full time minimum wage is supposed to be calculated as potential earning. I recently went down and talked to a case worker that would not explain why her portion was calculated as a zero. I also learned that when I am admin discharged from the military, due to my clearance issues related to debt that was a direct result of the grand I pay in child support. I learned that my potential earning will be calculated at a rate of 10-12 an hour since I have 8 years military experience. Except hears the kicker due to losing my clearance the last 8 years of military experience count for nothing. I was also informed that I don't get to just choose to go to school. My question is this are the calculations even being done correctly and is she really allowed to full custodial rights while I sit and pay for everything.

I realize that you're upset, but you really need to slow down and write in proper English. Then check your grammar and check it again. If you want help, people need to be able to understand you.

As near as I can make out, Mom moved to OR some time in the past and you have never seen the child. Your question revolves around child support. You are concerned that they did not impute an income for Mom and you think the income they imputed for you is too high. Is that correct? Then at the end, you threw in something about custody, but I didn't see a question.

So let's try to address things:

- You have to ask for them to impute an income to your ex - they may not do it automatically. Did you request it in the CS hearing? if she claimed to be unable to work, did you ask for proof? You are correct that they would typically impute minimum wage, but it looks like your ex has convinced them that she can't work. So you either need to accept that or find evidence that she's able to work.

- You are objecting to them imputing $10-12 per hour for you. While that may be a bit high, it's not out of line. With 8 years of military experience, you ought to be able to earn more than the minimum wage (currently $8 in CA). I wouldn't think that $10 is out of line, even if you don't have any particular skills.. And you don't need a clearance to get a job in private industry (usually).

- As for custody, are there any orders for custody or visitation? if so, you need to ask the court to enforce them. If not, you need to get orders in place. File for visitation.

 

[Proserpina]

OP, I see that you registered quite a while ago yet this is your only post.

Did you delete a prior thread?

 

[juliana21]

I have the complete file from the court. I did not ask for hard proof of the non income at the time of the original hearing. She just put zeros for everything and that she had made about 5 grand in wages the prior year. I was told she was on SSI but there is no proof in the file of this. Is it true that SSI is the only sure way to recieve a calculation of zero? She has recently told me that she was denied disability and has chosen to go to school and not work. Her income works sheet and her cost of living only was 936 at the time of filing. With no proof of disability and the ability to work should she have a potential income inputted?

I never asked or fought the zero input because even at paying 905 a month for one child I still can survive in San Diego. I was fine with the amount at the time; I still am fine with the amount as long as I am in the military.

I do object to the 10-12 per hour input due to the fact, that yes I have 8 years of military experience, but because 1/3 of my check does go to my ex, I had loans and was trying to live on my own in San Diego when the support order was finalized, I have lost my security clearance due to debt issues and will be administratively discharged. I am 25 and have had to file for bankruptcy. The jobs that would have been available to me no longer are without a security clearance. What I basically did for the last 8 years was softwear and creating strategic plans of attach, essentially. Also because of the clearance issues I will lose my GI Bill and have no source of income when I come out of the military except a minimum wage job hopefully. But I do have to sign paper agreeing that I have been informed that due to my discharge I will likely be discriminated upon during the employment/hiring process. If my military experience basically amount to nothing, how can they still input that potential earnings at 10-12 an hour?

She has informally agreed to a 70/30 visitation schedule, which I have been working on and hopefully she will agree to it when it’s filed with the courts.

Also because the clearance issues I need to go to school, and build another career, since my military career is down the tubes. I will be on unemployment till I can find a job, I have been told by my case worker that while I am on unemployment that I will have a potential earnings of 10-12 an hour calculated, and that she can attach to my unemployment leaving me with about 600 a month to live on in San Diego. Is this at all true? 600 a month is the equivalent of what a SSI candidate gets in this state.

Also the case was decided here in California but they are using my home state child support calculator. The paper work does say that the California calculator is to be used. Which is correct my home state calculator or the California calculator where the papers were filed? California also hold jurisdiction over the case.

PS I would hope that I can find a job at 10-12 an hour but outside my military career I only ever worked at Costco and McDonalds. I of course now feel foolish because I took everything the case workers were telling me 2 years ago for face value. Between child support payments, calculations and visitations, would it be wise to get an attorney? The courts do seem to favor her and seem to be riding out this zero calcualtion for as long as possible, I have asked why the calculations is zero and I have been merely told its that way because we say so. Not exactly a professional answer from a case worker.

If I can only find a job that provides me with less than what they think my potential earnings are, is it possible to ever get a fair calculation?