Support for children without court order

Florida-My husband and I have been together for 8 years we have a 7 & 3 year old. When I first met my husband I became preganant and so did his ex girlfriend. In 1998 i recieved court ordered support for $40.00 week. My husband and I were seperated at the time. We have long been back together since 1998. Last Year 2003 my husband fought for custody for his son who is also 7. We paid at least $10,000 we had to fire him because we couldnt afford it any more, we also lost the custody case beacuse of no representation. Now the judge has ordered him to pay a large amount of support which we can not afford. She refused to go by the financial affidavit we filled out but by his 2002 tax return. He worked alot more hours and made more money then. Anyway she also did not include the fact that he is supporting 2 other children. With the amount of support she ordered half of his income goes to the other parent. We can no longer afford our bills our mortgage is 2 months behind. Do my children have any rights. Is there a law that protects them and gives them support? Does every married person have to file for court ordered support should something like this happen in there future? Please help me. If you have any knowledge or links that could help I would greatly apppreciate it.

cartridge2 said:

Florida-My husband and I have been together for 8 years we have a 7 & 3 year old. When I first met my husband I became preganant and so did his ex girlfriend. In 1998 i recieved court ordered support for $40.00 week. My husband and I were seperated at the time. We have long been back together since 1998.

**Did you remarry him or were you never divorced? Is the court aware that you two are back together and did you have the support case dropped?

Last Year 2003 my husband fought for custody for his son who is also 7. We paid at least $10,000 we had to fire him because we couldnt afford it any more, we also lost the custody case beacuse of no representation. Now the judge has ordered him to pay a large amount of support which we can not afford. She refused to go by the financial affidavit we filled out but by his 2002 tax return. He worked alot more hours and made more money then. Anyway she also did not include the fact that he is supporting 2 other children.

**Some states allow this and some don't. The fact is that children are not equal in family court...yours count less because there is no support order out there for them. Plus, the judge likely feels that you should be financially supporting your kids too.

With the amount of support she ordered half of his income goes to the other parent. We can no longer afford our bills our mortgage is 2 months behind. Do my children have any rights. Is there a law that protects them and gives them support?

**If you divorce him and get a court ordered support order against him, yes they will count.

Does every married person have to file for court ordered support should something like this happen in there future?

**If you are still married and not divorcing or legally separating, you cannot file for support.

Please help me. If you have any knowledge or links that could help I would greatly apppreciate it.

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**Child support is a bill of goods sold under the old "best interests of the child" bunk. You and millions of others are proof that some kids don't mean as much financially as other kids. Do you work to help provide for your family? If not, you need to get a job and pick up the slack. Judges don't care whether or not an obligor can afford support, it is a percent of gross or net income depending upon your state. It comes off the top, even if it means it leaves people homeless. That is the hard reality of it.

Check the Fl child support guidelines to be certain that they were applied correctly. FYI- there are states that DO take into consideration already born children not under an order, entitled to support by their parents, when a new CS order is issued:

http://www.myflorida.com/dor/childsupport/pdf/poz8.pdf



Re: Children's Right to Equal Protection Guarantees of Federal and State Constitutions:
http://www.supportguidelines.com/articles/news20020815.html

Interesting NON-FLORIDA case regarding consideration of other children NOT under an order in a CS case:

"Thompson v. Hulbert, No. W2000-02675-COA-R3-JV (Tennessee Court of Appeals, August 9, 2002): ’This is a constitutional challenge to the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines, Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1240-2-4. While the mother was married to another man, she and the father had an extra-marital relationship. The child at issue in this case was born of that relationship. The father and mother never married each other. Later the father married a different woman and had two other children. Under the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines, the father’s financial support of the children born of his marriage could not be considered in determining the amount of court-ordered child support for his first child. The father argued to the juvenile court that the Guidelines treated his later-born children less favorably than his first child and, therefore, violated his children’s constitutional rights to equal protection. The juvenile court rejected this argument and ordered child support in accordance with the Guidelines. The father now appeals.

We reverse, finding that the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines violate the equal protection guarantees of the federal and state constitutions." (Ed. note: See also Gallaher v Elam, No. E2000-02719-COA-R3-CV, 2002 Tenn. App. LEXIS 94 (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 29, 2002).)"

I do work and cover 90% of all the bills. We were just recently married in Jan of 2003. She never filed for child support until my husband filed for custody. I had a court order in 1998 for My daughter it was only for $40.00 a week. I have dropped it with CSE but not legally with the courts. I felt we were together and became engaged that I didnt need to pursue it. My husband only makes about$9,000 a year. He owned a business in 2002 and showed alot of money on his return because of what he took out of the business. Ran it into the ground. Any way my daughter is actually older than his son and we now have a 3 year old. His income is not much but every little bit helps on my part. Last year he made more and when he filled out a new financial affidavit the judge wanted no part of it. She told him to hire an attorney and ana accountant whicj we can no longer afford. He was ordered $901.00 a month. In which the ex didnt have to show any proof of income. The judge just went by what she wrote on the paper.

Ok this is what I found but I dont understand it.

12)(a) A parent with a support obligation may have other children living with him or her who were born or adopted after the support obligation arose. If such subsequent children exist, the court, when considering an upward modification of an existing award, may disregard the income from secondary employment obtained in addition to the parent's primary employment if the court determines that the employment was obtained primarily to support the subsequent children.

(b) Except as provided in paragraph (a), the existence of such subsequent children should not as a general rule be considered by the court as a basis for disregarding the amount provided in the guidelines. The parent with a support obligation for subsequent children may raise the existence of such subsequent children as a justification for deviation from the guidelines. However, if the existence of such subsequent children is raised, the income of the other parent of the subsequent children shall be considered by the court in determining whether or not there is a basis for deviation from the guideline amount.

(c) The issue of subsequent children under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) may only be raised in a proceeding for an upward modification of an existing award and may not be applied to justify a decrease in an existing award.

Basically that means that your husband can't use the subsequent children as a reason to ask for a downward mod but he can use them as a defense against an upward mod. And the judge could request your financial records (W-2's, check stubs etc) in making a decision. It's all in the hands of the judge and she can use all this information anyway she sees fit. And it sounds like she (the judge) doesn't care for your husband.

Thanks thats what I thought it meant, but I make a pretty good living and I dont want her to use it against him. Dont get me wrong I dont make enough to live luxiourios(sp?), but I do make enough to cover mortgage, insurance, and 2 car payments. She used the fact that our mortgage was $2000. a month against him. She even made a comment about it. We worked very hard and struggled up to 2 years ago to get where we are. But his support does make a damper. The judge is for women only, I know a couple men who also went before her and she screwd them good. We were fighting for custody originally but lost.( we did have temporary permenant custody court ordered) My step son lived with us for the last year per his mothers wishes. When she decided that she made a mistake and wanted her son back because she felt bad, she made false accusations of child abuse against my husband. Mind you we have 2 children and he had never been accused before. Then she also went to a court in another county and filed for emergency injunctions for abuse to get custody back. The judge didnt even take that into account when making her decision for custody. The ex has done allot of devious things over the past year. I could go on but I would be typing for days.

cartridge2 said:

Thanks thats what I thought it meant, but I make a pretty good living and I dont want her to use it against him. Dont get me wrong I dont make enough to live luxiourios(sp?), but I do make enough to cover mortgage, insurance, and 2 car payments. She used the fact that our mortgage was $2000. a month against him. She even made a comment about it. We worked very hard and struggled up to 2 years ago to get where we are. But his support does make a damper.

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the judge may have been "bent out of shape" about your mortgage because your husband only makes 9,000 a year and has a TWO THOUSAND dollar a month mortgage?

That does not compute financially, and does make it look like he is living off of your finances to avoid paying more child support.

She didnt go by his current finances, she went by 2002 which showed he grossed about 4000. a month. Also he was only ordered in Oct of 2003, so it wasnt like he was trying to avoid anything. We really thought we were going to get custody, we can definetly provide a better home enviornment for him. Our attorney at the time led us to believe we had a good chance. $10,000+ dollers later and we have no chance.

It's also entirely possible that she is looking at his current situation as voluntary underemployment and is more than capable to earn more money than he does. Is there a reason he only earns 9k a year?

He doesnt own the company any more, he does service work and thats what he gets paid. It really wasnt a problem until he was ordered support. This all happened before he had any idea he was going to get ordered to pay support.