CS Modification; How to obtain CP's Income FL

[newwifefl]

t is the name of your state? FL

My husband has one of his two children about to turn 18. His child support with the CP hasn't been modified in several years and he is making substantially more now.The ex-wife hasn't been working for a year and a half. Prior to that she always held a steady job. Huband wants income to be imputed to her for modification of the one child remaining. We can't determine from the calculators how much he will have to pay for one child and if it will be worth pursuing because we don't know her exact income. Only approximate. My husband cannot afford an atty. What do we have to do to have her prior income disclosed without launching an all out request for a modification. If he is going to have to pay the same then the potential of having to pay her attys fees as a result of the modification wouldn't be warranted. He always has been stuck paying her atty fees with other issues in the past. Thank you for all the advice!

 

[fairisfair]

how old is the other child?

you will have to file for a modification in order to get her financials. The court isn't going to order her to hand them over to you, just because you are curious.

How much has your husbands income increased?

Have you run the calculations given the numbers that you DO have?

Do you think her income has increased more or less than his?

Does the support order call for a decrease as each child reaches majority age?

Have you filed for a termination of support for the one who is about to turn 18?

 

[nextwife]

h

Do you think her income has increased more or less than his?

AS she has been voluntarilly unemployed for about a year and a half, it sure hasn't increased.

 

[newwifefl]

My husbands income has increased about 35%. Her income increased probably 50% from the last modification until she quit her job. But now she basically is making nothing. If calcs are correct based on what we "think" she was making there will be a slight decrease just looking at that issue alone.

There are many things complicating the calc and its unfortunate that we really cannot afford to get an atty to help. She has always maintained a very aggressive atty and my husband has always not had one and so the ex always gets whatever she asks for.

Another confusing issue is in 2000 she filed a modification to increase support for him to pay more for health insurance. I don't understand why this came up after the fact, or if there was an increase for the insurance or what. But it was back ordered. They liened his house for the back ordered health insurance and attys fees, but did not modify his wage garnishment to include this. (His wages were garnished as part of the original decree). Is this insurance considered part of "child support" or separate. If it is I don't understand why they wouldn't modify his garnishment. Unless it was because they were already garnishing the max for child support.(1/3 of wages so I'm told). He has not been sending separate payments since 2000 for this add'l insurance. So she will be seeking reimbursement on that as well. He knows he needs to pay but question is how. Would it be added to the garnishment as part of the new income mod or is that a separate type of pymt that will have to be dealt with like a debt? All of this atty/child support stuff is very new to me and very frustrating and confusing. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[newwifefl]

Also adding to confusion....original order doesn't mention an amt per child. Just flat child support amt. So this complicates things. Should he still file for termination of support as someone advised in earlier post. Is this done separate from modification? His oldest turns 18 in Dec but doesn't graduate until May. I'm told he has to pay until graduation on this child. Is that true? When should termination and or modification get filed? Before 18th or graduation?

 

[LdiJ]

Also adding to confusion....original order doesn't mention an amt per child. Just flat child support amt. So this complicates things. Should he still file for termination of support as someone advised in earlier post. Is this done separate from modification? His oldest turns 18 in Dec but doesn't graduate until May. I'm told he has to pay until graduation on this child. Is that true? When should termination and or modification get filed? Before 18th or graduation?

His original order doesn't mention an amount per child because it does not work that way.

Just to give you a general illustration, if child support for one child would be 17% of gross income, then child support for two children would be a total of 24-25% of gross income.

If your husband's income has increase by 35%, and she has not been working for a year and a half, I would be really surprized if his support would reduce enough to make the case worth his while, and there is a halfway decent chance that it might even increase.

Run the numbers using his current income, and mom's original income, then the same using a 50% increase for mom. That gives you a range to work with.

In almost all states these days child support goes to at least high school graduation (or age 19-20 if the child doesn't graduate on time)

 

[newwifefl]

Ok thank you for info.

Might anyone have any insight on the separately ordered health insurance they was not included in his child support garnishment amount during the last modification? Is this considered child support and during the next mod they will start billing him for the arrearages or is this a separate matter?

 

[fairisfair]

AS she has been voluntarilly unemployed for about a year and a half, it sure hasn't increased.

my point to the poster was how to obtain the numbers they should be running in the calculator in order to obtain an idea as to whether or not the modification was even worth pursuing.

 

[LdiJ]

Ok thank you for info.

Might anyone have any insight on the separately ordered health insurance they was not included in his child support garnishment amount during the last modification? Is this considered child support and during the next mod they will start billing him for the arrearages or is this a separate matter?

It could very possibly end up getting incorporated into the new child support calculation. That is actually the norm.

 

[Gracie3787]

Ok thank you for info.

Might anyone have any insight on the separately ordered health insurance they was not included in his child support garnishment amount during the last modification? Is this considered child support and during the next mod they will start billing him for the arrearages or is this a separate matter?

A portion of the health insurance will be included in the calculations. It's extremely doubtful that it would be retroactive. Up until about 6 years ago, the health insurance costs were not calculated in and were a seperate part of most orders, but now it's normal to have it calculated in.

As for trying to figure out what income can be imputed to ex, just use the income that was last reported to the court. Although ex may have been earning more at one point, ex is now unemployed so it'll be hard to prove some unknown number. To be safe though, run the numbers with the former income and then again using a slightly higher income.