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My divorce decree says I owe her 20% of my net income.  I called my state's Child Support Services, and they said I'm doing everything the way I need to be.  I have receipts for money that I have paid her, I send her money every month, even if it's not an amount that she wants, it's 20% of what I earned.  They also said she does not get 20% of what my business brings in, she gets 20% of what I take out, after I set aside 35% for Federal, Sate, Local and Self-Employment taxes.  

Hope some people can shed some light on this issue.  I lost my job before I was divorced.  So my divorce papers say that once I have a job, I'm to pay 20% of my net income to my ex for support of our child.   I collected 6 months of unemployment of which she got her 20% of.  When that ran out, I was still having difficulty finding any decent work.  I used to make $26.00 an hour.  Everything I was looking at was paying $10 -$12/hr.  So after looking at my situation and doing some research, I decided to go into business for myself.  I called Child Support Services in my state and they said that I'd be required to pay 20% after I set aside money to pay quartly taxes everytime I take an Owner's Draw from my company.  So everything looked like it was going to work out.  Fast forward a few months, I have ended up playing a waiting game on several of the jobs I submitted bids on, so I was receiving no money.  I decided to take a $10/hr job on weekends and evenings to have some steady income coming in and so that I can pay my ex some steady CS.  So this morning I get an e-mail asking, what about the money you're getting from your business?  I told her that I intended to not take any draws at this time, so that I could invest any money I receive from jobs I do, back into the business.  This would allow me to grow my business to a point where I could quit the $10/hr job and make $30 - $40/hr.  Her reply was my business expenses are not her problem, and apparently her lawyer is telling her that she's entitled to 20% of what I bring in.  I'm a handyman.  I had a job that I bid at $800, after materials I had $500 left over.  My business costs me $150 a month in normal expenses, (credit card processing fees, garbage, cell phone, etc)  Then I have advertising expenses, as I'd like to get in the yellow pages and local directory.  I have internet search engine fees, and all of this will pretty much each up that extra $500 over the next 2-3 months.  The job that I'm starting on now, is for a corperation that will not pay until the job is 100% complete.  It will last about a month, so I won't see anything from that until May.  

So is her lawyer right?  I'm provinding her with support from the job I took, plus I have to pay 1/2 of EVERYTHING she decides to invoice me on. (Medical bills, school supplies, music lessons, recreational activities)  Do I still owe her more?  For the record, the few owners draws I did take, I immediately sent her 20% of the draw after I took out taxes.

Thanks, and sorry for the novel.