What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
My ex-husband and I had a visitation modification hearing in Dec. that resulted in a 3.5 hour increase per week to his timeshare so that I now have 60% timeshare and he has 40% timeshare. However, the mediator’s report that the judge endorsed for the order says the new timeshare is “approximately” 52% and 48%, respectively. Based on this “approximate” figure, Ex and his lawyer filed a Request for Order three days after the hearing to modify child support. The only facts in support they listed were “a change in circumstances: my income has increased, her income has increased, and the child share percentages have changed.” They have responded with radio silence to my attempts to resolve this out of court.
I believe the 1.6% change in timebase doesn’t warrant a change in cs. Even if it did, the $2000 raise he received (compared to my $80 raise) should offset the miniscule change in timebase, so this suit seems frivolous to me on the whole, but the devil may be in the details. Here are my questions:
1. Is it typical for a modification request to contain such little data? It seems to me that had they actually crunched some numbers, they would see that there is little here to argue.
2. I am on a reduced income this year, so my paystub will show half of what it did previously. Technically, I “voluntarily” accepted this reduced income, but it is because I need the additional time to get research done to keep my job. I am a faculty member who has not published, as required, since I had kids, and keeping my job is necessary for the welfare of my children. It is also true that the ex has a pattern of missing 10-15% of his scheduled visitation time due to out-of-town trips, and I have always babysat the children in his place, further taking me away from my research duties. Should I just tell the judge to double the amount of my actual paystub to calculate cs or is there much chance in arguing that CS should be based on my actual salary this year and/or actual time with the children (not assigned time); therefore, his cs should be increased (not decreased)? Again, I understand that under normal circumstances these arguments would be unlikely to be accepted by a court, but given the above, can you advise how you think I should respond?
(BTW, I figured timebase to two decimal places on an excel sheet by adding the weekly hours for NCP, multiplying by the number of weeks for that schedule, and then adding 50% hours for vacation weeks and dividing by 8760, the number of hours in a year. Correct? Is it difficult to overcome the wrong percentage given by the mediator?)
Thank you for your education and advice.
My ex-husband and I had a visitation modification hearing in Dec. that resulted in a 3.5 hour increase per week to his timeshare so that I now have 60% timeshare and he has 40% timeshare. However, the mediator’s report that the judge endorsed for the order says the new timeshare is “approximately” 52% and 48%, respectively. Based on this “approximate” figure, Ex and his lawyer filed a Request for Order three days after the hearing to modify child support. The only facts in support they listed were “a change in circumstances: my income has increased, her income has increased, and the child share percentages have changed.” They have responded with radio silence to my attempts to resolve this out of court.
I believe the 1.6% change in timebase doesn’t warrant a change in cs. Even if it did, the $2000 raise he received (compared to my $80 raise) should offset the miniscule change in timebase, so this suit seems frivolous to me on the whole, but the devil may be in the details. Here are my questions:
1. Is it typical for a modification request to contain such little data? It seems to me that had they actually crunched some numbers, they would see that there is little here to argue.
2. I am on a reduced income this year, so my paystub will show half of what it did previously. Technically, I “voluntarily” accepted this reduced income, but it is because I need the additional time to get research done to keep my job. I am a faculty member who has not published, as required, since I had kids, and keeping my job is necessary for the welfare of my children. It is also true that the ex has a pattern of missing 10-15% of his scheduled visitation time due to out-of-town trips, and I have always babysat the children in his place, further taking me away from my research duties. Should I just tell the judge to double the amount of my actual paystub to calculate cs or is there much chance in arguing that CS should be based on my actual salary this year and/or actual time with the children (not assigned time); therefore, his cs should be increased (not decreased)? Again, I understand that under normal circumstances these arguments would be unlikely to be accepted by a court, but given the above, can you advise how you think I should respond?
(BTW, I figured timebase to two decimal places on an excel sheet by adding the weekly hours for NCP, multiplying by the number of weeks for that schedule, and then adding 50% hours for vacation weeks and dividing by 8760, the number of hours in a year. Correct? Is it difficult to overcome the wrong percentage given by the mediator?)
Thank you for your education and advice.
