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Are you required to work a certain amount of hours for child support?

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Kimpurple3

Junior Member
My husband has been claiming me as a dependent and I had been a part time / stay at home mom for the beginning part of our marriage and then I decided to be a part time working (20-25 hour week) and full time (12-14 credit hour) college student.
My husband has brought up divorce and we would like our daughter to be shared custody.
I was wondering is there a way I can be a full time student and still just work 20-25 hours a week? I have completed two years out of my 4 year degree and I don't want to stop being a full time student. My question is, I've done the calculations to see how much child support my husband would owe if I continued working part time + school and it seems like a lot. (He brings in 4k/month and me 600/month) will I be required to work full time so my husband won't have to pay $700+ in child support?
I just want to be prepared so we know what we are getting into. Thanks.
 


stealth2

Under the Radar Member
A lot depends on the state involved.

But it would not be unusual for you to be imputed a full-time income, if your state looks at what both parents bring in. Which is not unreasonable, IMO.
 

gam

Senior Member
You got rid of the important question the site asks when posting, what state? It matters very much, every state has their own child support formula and rules.

Shared custody? Are you talking about actually splitting time 50/50, some child support formulas factor in overnights, so that could have a huge impact on child support. Along with that what Stealth 2 said applies. Since you do work now, if your state imputes, they would impute with the wages you are capable of making, in other words you would get imputed with your current hourly wage full time. Sometimes even states that do impute have things in their laws where they can consider other factors in imputing, some will consider college as a reason not to impute, others will not.

If the children need daycare, many state formulas factor that in on top of child support, so something else to consider.

I don't see why any of this would impact your decision on finishing that 4 year degree. Many work full time, raise their children and get 4 year degrees, just takes longer and requires you to bust your behind a bit while doing it. You can always go to school part time and work full time to.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
You got rid of the important question the site asks when posting, what state? It matters very much, every state has their own child support formula and rules.

Shared custody? Are you talking about actually splitting time 50/50, some child support formulas factor in overnights, so that could have a huge impact on child support. Along with that what Stealth 2 said applies. Since you do work now, if your state imputes, they would impute with the wages you are capable of making, in other words you would get imputed with your current hourly wage full time. Sometimes even states that do impute have things in their laws where they can consider other factors in imputing, some will consider college as a reason not to impute, others will not.

If the children need daycare, many state formulas factor that in on top of child support, so something else to consider.

I don't see why any of this would impact your decision on finishing that 4 year degree. Many work full time, raise their children and get 4 year degrees, just takes longer and requires you to bust your behind a bit while doing it. You can always go to school part time and work full time to.
I don't disagree with this, but there truly is nothing wrong with someone going to school full time if child support is fairly calculated using imputation.
 

gam

Senior Member
I don't disagree with this, but there truly is nothing wrong with someone going to school full time if child support is fairly calculated using imputation.
I don't find nothing wrong with it either and if you got that out of my thread, sorry, didn't intend for it to mean that. I was just pointing out to her, that she should not give up on her attempt for that degree, no matter what happens out of this, she can work around it.

I personally believe that we should be encouraging parents to get degrees to increase their income, then they don't have to worry about paying or receiving child support in the future. My own daughter finished her degree while being a single parent, part of getting that degree she did not work at all, we(her parents)helped her out, paid her and the childs way, because we thought she and the child would be far better off in the end. The courts did not impute, even though my states formula allows for it, part way through her degree, she had enough classes in to seek a higher wage position and she did start working. She herself filed for a review to have this income included into the calculations.

My court tends to favor ones who are seeking to improve their wages. They cut her slack and they also cut her ex slack who was also a full time student. Both got degrees, both earn much higher then minimum wage now and both pay their fair share for their child, with no help from anyone now.

I'm all for it, because it beats minimum wage and it beats living on welfare and sucking money out of the rest of our pockets.
 

TinkerBelleLuvr

Senior Member
It is possible for you to continue working part-time, the courts to impute full time, and you make up the shortfall with student loans. Consider downgrading your accommodations to live on LESS.
 

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