What happens after a change in custody?

[joecumbo@yahoo.]

What is the name of your state? New York

I've been dirvorced for apprx. 8 years. I have 4 children 19, 18, 16 and 14 and she was awarded the "Custodial" parent.

1) As per the original divorce I was responsible for all the costs of medical insurance (medical, dental and optical) and two thirds of any out of pocket medical expenses.

2) She got the 2 youngest children and I got the 2 oldest children as dependets.

3) I fought very hard and received "visitation" 2 nights a week and 3 out of 4 weekends. And with the exception of Christmas day I do all the driving. Now as the children are older weekends are not much of an issue anymore due to the kids either have paper routes or reg. part time jobs and have to work weekends now.

My youngest moved in with me last June and last Dec. I took my ex back to court so I could be the "Custodial Parent" for him. The judge did grant my request and my son officially lives with me.

Now I find that I have to petition the courts for a change in child support even thoough he's been with me almost a year. I also would like to know now that it "official" that material change in circumstance what I'm legally entiltied to.

a) I would like to know how the new child support would be calculated. She has the oldest 3 and I have the youngest 1 now.

b) As it stands right now when I go to pick up my other kids twice a week (it should be noted that she moved a half an hour away after the divorce whidh translates into a minimum of 4 hours driving time a week in good weather) I drop my son off with his mom while I pick up the others. And when I drop the others off at my ex.'s I pick my son back up. Also, when we were dirorced gas was approx. $1.10 a gallon and now it's approx. $3.00 a gallon. Can she be required to do some of the driving or be lible for some some of the expense?

c) When we were originally divorced my employer paid for all most all my medical insurance I now pay approx. $4,000.00 annually for my insurance out of my pay check. Would she be responsible for some of the costs of insurance for the children? She works full time and is and remarried.

d) Now that I have the youngest living with me can I have the dependent awards be changed to reflect the change in custody? To be fair and equitable we should swap the oldest and the youngest resulting in her having the 19 and 16 year olds and I have the 18 and the 14 year old.

I don't have the money for a lawyer. I'm jsut trying to keep the utilities on so I would appreciate any information I receive.

Thank you

Joe from New York

 

[LdiJ]

Your situation is a little odd because the older two kids are of the age where visitation is their choice. Keep that in mind. Also, child support goes to age 21 in NY.

In general, the way the calculation would work is that it would be calculated what you owe her for the three kids.....what she owes you for the one, and then you would be paying her the difference between the two figures.

I don't know when was the last time your child support modified, however if your income has increased significantly since the last child support increase....you may want to do some research before "rocking the boat". I have seen many parents in situations like yours assume that their child support should go down, only to find that their increased income caused an increase instead.

 

[joecumbo@yahoo.]

Your situation is a little odd because the older two kids are of the age where visitation is their choice. Keep that in mind. Also, child support goes to age 21 in NY.

In general, the way the calculation would work is that it would be calculated what you owe her for the three kids.....what she owes you for the one, and then you would be paying her the difference between the two figures.

I don't know when was the last time your child support modified, however if your income has increased significantly since the last child support increase....you may want to do some research before "rocking the boat". I have seen many parents in situations like yours assume that their child support should go down, only to find that their increased income caused an increase instead.

Thank you for repling Lkij,

My income hasn't gone up much since the last time support was modified (about 3 years ago). I'm not sure how much she's making. I know where she works full time from the last time we went to court when she wanted more money from me. However as I was the only one paying support she didn't have to provide me with her income.

So it appears that I would have to pay 29% of my income for 3 kids and she would have to pay 17% of her income for one kid.

That leaves the remaining issues up in the air.

I've been driving a min. of 4 hrs. a week just going back and forth for almost 9 years and that's just to have them with me. In all that time I've missed 1 day and I was sick and ended up at the hospital to find out I was now a diabetic.

The cost of gasoline has gone up dramaticly since the divorce.

The cost of the court ordered medical benefits.

The dependent structure.

I'm just looking for things to be fair and equitable.

Life sure has not been easy but I wouldn't trade any of it away for my kids....

Thanks again,

Joe from New York