Work records for child placement schedule

[KHillard]

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

My ex and I have shared custody of our two children. Our placement allows for trades without penalty for employment schedules but not for personal vacations. My ex often asks for trades "for work", but her online profile suggests that she is actually on a vacation. This happens several times throughout the year, and if these were dates that didn't require a trade but were counted toward my number of overnights for the year, I would have them for much, much more than 50% of the year.

Can I subpoena her work record at the end of the year to show that she is not actually working during the times that she says she is?

 

[Zigner]

What do you hope to accomplish?

 

[mistoffolees]

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

My ex and I have shared custody of our two children. Our placement allows for trades without penalty for employment schedules but not for personal vacations. My ex often asks for trades "for work", but her online profile suggests that she is actually on a vacation. This happens several times throughout the year, and if these were dates that didn't require a trade but were counted toward my number of overnights for the year, I would have them for much, much more than 50% of the year.

Can I subpoena her work record at the end of the year to show that she is not actually working during the times that she says she is?

You can't subpoena anything unless there is an active case.

So what are you trying to accomplish?

In addition, what does your current order say about visitation (word for word, but without the names)?

 

[KHillard]

Thank you for resonding so quickly. I don't have the paperwork with me right now, but will try to post the exact wording later.

I'd like to have the child support payments reduced, or have the money placed in a trust for the kids to use for college or or other expenses so that my ex can't use it to pay for her personal vacations.

 

[mistoffolees]

Thank you for resonding so quickly. I don't have the paperwork with me right now, but will try to post the exact wording later.

I'd like to have the child support payments reduced, or have the money placed in a trust for the kids to use for college or or other expenses so that my ex can't use it to pay for her personal vacations.

In order to have child support payments reduced, you would have to change the amount of time that the child spends with the other parent. To do so, you need to show why it's in the best interests of the child to spend less time with the other parent. And the difference would have to be significant. How much more time do you expect to spend with the child if you can get the order changed?

As for where the money is used? You don't get any say in the matter. Child support is used to reimburse the custodial parent for what they've spent supporting the child. You don't get to say how it is spent any more than I do. If you want the child to have a college fund, go ahead and start one, but you can't divert your child support for that purpose.

 

[KHillard]

And there is nothing that can be done about overpayment of support for this past year? Meaning, I paid for 50/50 placement but placement was actually 40/60? I'm asking because there is a shared placement calculator that adjusts based on # of overnights spent with each parent.

 

[mistoffolees]

And there is nothing that can be done about overpayment of support for this past year? Meaning, I paid for 50/50 placement but placement was actually 40/60? I'm asking because there is a shared placement calculator that adjusts based on # of overnights spent with each parent.

Nope. Child support is due based on an existing court order. If circumstances change, the old child support amount continues to remain due until someone files for (and receives) a modification.

 

[KHillard]

Thank you for taking time to answer me. The response was not exactly what I wanted to hear, but helpful nonetheless.

 

[CJane]

So, just so I'm clear... What you'd like to do is be able to show that if you had not made time swaps, but rather kept the children while mom 'vacationed' AND kept your regular time, you would have had the kids 60% of the time?

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

The chances of an abatement as an adjustment is not likely. I won't say impossible because I actually saw it happen (dad got money back and the mama wasn't happy, and no, it wasn't me).

Your best bet is to keep documenting. If you can show that for a consistent period of time, the placement isn't 50/50, then you can file for an adjustment.

 

[KHillard]

CJane: Exactly. I'll post the exact wording later, but basically, she's only able to make the time up if the trade is necessary due to work, not personal vacations. She's been telling us that she needs to trade because of work and then she goes on vacation. I should say that, if she can't take care of them because of work, then we need to schedule a trade. If she can't take care of them because of personal vacations, then she forfeits the time and we don't have to give up our time with the kids - we get the extra time. She knows this and does not want to give up overnight stays, so she says that it's for work. This happened all through 2011 and she's starting to do it again this year, already. As it stands for 2011, we had them for 201 days confirmed by email messages, and suspect that there were many more vacation days that she had her mother watch them without giving us right of first refusal. We'd like to show that if we had kept them during our scheduled times AND had them while she is on vacation, we would have had them for even more than 201 days.

TinkerBelleLuvr: The kids will be adults in less than ten years. Is this adjustment something that I need to file each year, or can we save the documentation for this past year and the next few years to bring it all up in one filing, after the youngest has turned 18? It would be nice to get some of the money back and pay for some of their college.

 

[Zigner]

CJane: Exactly. I'll post the exact wording later, but basically, she's only able to make the time up if the trade is necessary due to work, not personal vacations. She's been telling us that she needs to trade because of work and then she goes on vacation. This happened all through 2011 and she's starting to do it again this year, already. As it stands for 2011, we had them for 201 days confirmed by email messages, and suspect that there were many more vacation days that she had her mother watch them without giving us right of first refusal. Yes, we'd like to show that if we had kept them during our scheduled times AND had them while she is on vacation, we would have had them for more than 201 days.

TinkerBelleLuvr: The kids will be adults in less than ten years. Is this adjustment something that I need to file each year, or can we save the documentation for this past year and the next few years to bring it all up in one filing?

Who are you in this situation, really?

And, it matters not how long the parent MIGHT have had them...

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Nope - there are no go back and get a refund check. You file for an adjustment in child support based on the number of overnights.

 

[CJane]

Nope - there are no go back and get a refund check. You file for an adjustment in child support based on the number of overnights.

But it's based on ACTUAL number of overnights. Now how many overnights one MIGHT have had if the parent hadn't exercised their time.

I can't go into court and say "well, if my ex had let the kids stay at my house while he was out of town, then i would have had them X days last year and so I should pay less child support." That doesn't even make SENSE.

 

[KHillard]

I'm not referring to the times that we might have had them. We (my partner and I) take them during our scheduled time AND her "work" time. What I want to show is that she is not actually working during the times that she says she works, which necessitated the trade. If she was not actually working, then it was not necessary to again disrupt schedules to allow her to make up the time in trade.