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Joint petition, question about custodial parents rights

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tehbird

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WI

My wife and I are working on the paperwork to jointly file for divorce.

Under the arrangement, we will share legal custody and I will retain primary placement custody of our child.

Further we (want) to waive child support payments to each other. (There are specific reasons, but I don't think it's pertinent to my answer)

So from this, two questions:

Does the custodial parent EVER pay child support (in WI)?


- My income is higher and I am sure under a joint-custodial arrangement with shared placement I would have to make payments to her.

- But since I have primary placement, would I pay support to her under any arrangement?

Also, how difficult would it be for her, once she is on her feet to file and get a joint-custodial arrangement after succeeding primary placement to me already?

- Assuming of course that there is no 'good reason' for this request other than the fact that she in fact wants to change the arrangement

Thanks for any feedback - if any more details are needed please let me know.
 


What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WI

So from this, two questions:

Does the custodial parent EVER pay child support (in WI)?


- My income is higher and I am sure under a joint-custodial arrangement with shared placement I would have to make payments to her.

- But since I have primary placement, would I pay support to her under any arrangement?
Check out the Wisconsin Child Support Calculator. It is possible for a custodial parent to pay support if the CP's income is significantly more and the # of overnights the NCP has.

Normally, a change of circumstance that AFFECTS the child would be necessary to have a chance of successfully changing primary custody. However, hopefully someone with more experience with Wisconsin's family courts will reply.
 

mistoffolees

Senior Member
So from this, two questions:

Does the custodial parent EVER pay child support (in WI)?
Yes. Look up the child support calculator for your state and plug in the numbers (fortunately, WI is very simple - all you need is your income, her income, and the number of nights the child spends with you). Use your best guesses if you have to.

You will see that if your income is much higher than hers, you could easily end up paying support, particularly if the child spends a lot of time with the mother.

Not also that whatever you agree to can be changed. Even if you agree to no child support at this time, she can request a change after a certain amount of time has elapsed.

Also, how difficult would it be for her, once she is on her feet to file and get a joint-custodial arrangement after succeeding primary placement to me already?
The court will consider the best interests of the children. In this case, there are two conflicting issues:
- The children will have been established into a life in your house and courts don't like to move them unnecessarily.
- There is a strong preference for having the children spend as much time as possible with both parents.

It would be impossible to say at this point - it depends on factors like how much she stays involved in their lives, whether you're close enough geographically to make it easy for the kids, whether you're doing everything possible to facilitate her spending time with the kids or whether you're blocking it.

In general, the longer the status quo exists and the better the kids have adapted, the less likely it is for a change.
 

tehbird

Junior Member
I did find the calculator, which as you said is pretty straight forward - very helpful.

Thanks to both of you!
 

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