Question regarding legality of clause

Neither party shall petition the courts, in any state, for child support unless:
a) The non-custodial parent stops making support payments agreed upon in an agreement outside of the separation agreement.
b) The non-custodial parent alters the agreed upon support payments to lower the payments without the signed written consent of the custodial parent.

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nismogod07 said:

Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Washington DC.

Sorry for the confusion on the state, this will most likely happen in PA, but we were married in NY state, last lived in VA together and I now reside in DC. But I am a resident of PA, as is my soon-to-be-ex.

Anyway, I was thinking of adding this clause into our separation agreement and was wondering if it would hold up in court. Something tells me it wouldn't, but I figured I would ask anyway.



In other words, I don't want to live in fear that I will end up getting served every time I get a raise, or vice versa if our daughter lives with me.

For the record, I do pay her support now, non-court ordered. Not to get too deep into things, but her spending habits aren't the greatest and it seems like every time she asks me for money, she just so happened to recently go on a vacation, spend too much shopping, bought a new car, etc.

Thanks.

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nismogod07 said:

I figured as much. I mean, in my head it made sense; "hey a binding contract signed by two adults", but the fact that it pretty much gives either parent zero options also made me think that a judge would just toss it anyway.

I guess my thing is, I don't want to be paying X amount and then every year or every raise worry about going back to court for the next 14+ years. I know, I know......"should have thought about that before having a kid". I get it and by no means am I trying to skirt responsibility. Again, I just don't feel like getting dragged into court every other year, especially since I offered to take our daughter if she was such a burden and ask for no support. And since I am active duty military, I move around every few years, so I can't exactly afford, nor do I have the time, to keep going to PA. Right now I am in DC and it isn't a problem, but if I am stationed in CA, WA, HI or overseas.....or worse, deployed, I just can't keep going to court.

Is there a way to cement a certain amount of support for an extended period of time? Or is it always up for contention at any time? It is just frustrating. FWIW, I do pay already (as any parent should IMO) and also cover our daughter for medical, dental and optical (and obviously split any co-pays). Just want to ensure that I am not seen as a deadbeat dad trying to avoid paying child support, I just don't want to be held hostage for another 1.5 decades either.

Thanks again.

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