Is it appropriate to ask for CS modification, even if temporary?

[doc2b]

Updated questions: Is it appropriate to ask for CS modification...?

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

My husband and his ex wife have had their current CS order in effect for about 2 1/2 years. He pays $600/month for their two kids (they have joint custody, and he has them a little more than she does).

Long story short, he has been going through some really expensive medical tests and treatments since last year, and the bills are piling up. His W-2 forms have arrived and he has, once again, made less than last year. His ex wife informed him last February of being employed, and of an additional job she began in July of last year. (So now, as far as he knows, she has two jobs, at least part time each)

He's wondering (as well as I), if courts can or would consider doing at least a temporary modification due to the changes in incomes and the medical bills? It's really been a struggle financially and it would benefit everybody if we could catch up a little.

He used a current MI CS calculator program (through Marginsoft) and input his income and basically guessed on hers (full time at minimum wage), and it actually estimated that she owes him $129 (doesn't make sense to me, but I don't know how the calculator figures the numbers out). He also calculated it with $0 income for her, just to see what would come up, and it still only showed $383 per month.

Any advice?

 

[Ohiogal]

Go back to court for a modification -- he should at least. You should relay that to him and stay out of court.

 

[doc2b]

Go back to court for a modification -- he should at least. You should relay that to him and stay out of court.

Thank you, OG!
And I will let him know, for sure...I've not been to court once, and never plan to either.

One more thing, is this something he can do himself, or should he find an attorney? I don't have a clue how involved CS modifications are...

 

[doc2b]

Also, I forgot to mention, they declined FOC for handling CS in the beginning, if he asks for a modification, would there be any benefit in trying to reinstate (or whatever you would call it) FOC?

 

[Ohiogal]

If he wants to get familiar with the rules of civil procedure and the statutes then he can do this without an attorney. As for FOC look for Ginny to post.

 

[doc2b]

If he wants to get familiar with the rules of civil procedure and the statutes then he can do this without an attorney. As for FOC look for Ginny to post.

Thank you very much! Will do

 

[gam]

In Mi your entitled to a review every year, if you want one. Your also entitled to a review, anytime the circumstances change, which they have in your case, his income has gone down. They do have an amount it must go down for the change.

You can look up a lot online. Look up the Mi CS formula, read through it, several times. Also look up Mi FOC handbook, and then look up your county FOC handbook. If your county does not have it online, you can go down and get a copy. All have valuable info concerning CS, procedures, and the formula. Important to read Mi stuff and county stuff, cause each county has different rules.

The marginsoft calculator is very good, numbers usually come real close to what is ordered. However there are a few things you must put in to get those numbers close. Such as filing status, total number of tax exemptions and number of tax dependants under 17. Also med insurance and daycare if they apply to either party. There is also custodial status. You mentioned husband has then a bit more then mom, however if he does not have a court order giving him more time, then he might not be able to check either custodial, shared or split. All these things can make huge differences in what that calculator comes out to.

Cases are all different, and so I can't tell ya if he should or should not take a lawyer. I know many that don't for CS and have done fine, but I know many that didn't and screwed themselves.

In my opinion(note just my opinion, not a legal answer), there are benefits and non benefits to having FOC involved. Much depends on your FOC. You can file anything in your order through FOC, and not pay filing fees, but anything not in your order, you must file through the court. But then it is just FOC, either side can object to their recommendation, it is not an order. So often going through FOC, requires a trip to them, a trip to a Ref and a trip to the Judge. Even if you opt out of FOC, at any time the Judge can order to have them investigate for CS or custody. Rare a Judge figures out CS, they have FOC run the numbers, FOC also investigates for custody to.

Based on my county FOC, they are a waste of time, better to bypass and use the court. Just my opinion again, and just on my county FOC.

 

[doc2b]

Paperwork Question

My husband called FOC and they told him all the paperwork he needed was the Motion to Change Child Support and he's also doing a Motion to Change Parenting Time (the old one needs some clarifications).

On the CS paperwork, it has a worksheet that asks for both of their financial information and it says to complete it to the best of your ability. Obviously he has his own paystubs for the last 6 months, but has absolutely no clue what to put for his ex-wife's. He knows where she works and what her license is for, but has no idea how many hours she works or what kind of wages she earns. I looked up for him (on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) the average wages for her profession in her metro area, but it seems really high to use that as an estimate.

Any advice on how to have him fill that part in? Should he use minimum wage at part/full time, the median wage of her position part/full time...? He doesn't want to make it look like he's exaggerating it, but he also doesn't want to lowball her earnings too much, especially if she doesn't show up with proof of income. He basically just wants to ask the court to calculate the actual support owed using the formula and actual incomes, so I guess what he puts down for her wouldn't really matter in that case, but he still has to fill it out...any input would be appreciated!

 

[doc2b]

Okay, paperwork is almost done, but a few questions (some of them are reiterating ones that haven't been answered yet, so bear with me )...

First, it asks for the case number on both forms, and says to use the case number from the original . There's only one number found on this document and the format is 01-234567. I'm assuming this is the one he uses...? Or is this possibly more of a reference number and does he need to call the court for the case number?

Second, since he has no clue what his ex-wife's actual income is from her jobs, he's going to "guess" (like the instructions say) by using minimum wage at full time. This comes to $15392 per year. If she is making significantly more than this when the time comes for them to attend the hearing, are they going to take that into account when calculating the support owed or are they going to base it strictly on what he estimated?

If the latter is the case, should he guess on her income based on the average wages for her profession in her area (just in case she doesn't show up with proof of income)? And how would this work if she is licensed and actively working in two professions? Take the average of both? He knows (based on emails exchanged with her in the last few months) that she's only working part time at both jobs, so he would only estimate for part time... but how many hours would be reasonable to do that? 20 hours total, 30...if she's part time at both, she could be at 40 hours a week This is confusing!

Also, in the form it doesn't allow a place for him to add in the medical supplement. The recommended supplement has gone up from last year by a little bit, so that needs to be changed, but is he supposed to calculate it into the requested "new amount" of CS he is to pay?

Lastly, it says to attach supporting documentation. Besides the W-2 forms what else should this include? He and I have worked up a financial summary showing all of our expenses for the month, and how we've been in the red for over a year ( our savings is now gone). There are tons of medical bills from his disability leave that we're paying on. He has written notifications from his job that this year there will be no raises or bonuses distributed. Also he can do a printout of how he got his CS estimate using a MI CS calculator program if that would be good to include.

ETA: The CS software also asks for number of tax dependents at year end. Does this mean at end of 2008, or 2009? We are expecting baby #2 in August, but as a previous attorney referred to baby #1 before he was born as the "alleged baby", I'm assuming that they're looking for "live" children.

Thanks for taking a look, this is all very overwhelming for him to figure out without an attorney's help (and I'm clueless, too...we just don't have the funds to get him some help).