Messages

I am not aware of the cooperative agreements.

I am only going by my personal experience that the MT CSED,  our judge, and my attorney told me: that the CP requesting the CSED's involvement is solely responsible for the application fee.  If these coop agreements state differently, they appear to be ignored in MT.

In MT the CP has to pay the CSED "application processing fee" unless they are on public assistance, in which case it is waived entirely.  There is no provision here to split that fee equally or to charge it to the NCP.  

The CP simply has to pay it via certified check or money order at the time they submit their application or it will not be processsed.  

Check your state's statutes.   I live in MT and my state allows employers to charge a fee of up to $25 per item garnished.

You need to post on soc's board for instuctions re:discovery asap.

Usually (in my state anyway) you have to have discovery requests and answers submitted 10 days prior to the hearing.. if so in your state, you may have missed the deadlines.

check w/ soc

I don;t think expenses have any bearing on child support calculations.. so the rent and charitable gifts are nothing more than smoke.
Request discovery for taxes, paystubs, bank statements, and the health insurance premium statement and description of coverage.

Does your state automatically do a COLA increase each year? If so what state are you in? My state, MT, does a COLA calculation as part of the worksheet but only when one party has requested a review..

"The life-insurance thing I was referring to was a post -- on this board, maybe? -- where a guy was showing off his cleverness in referring his wife to Social Security's advertised payout in case of his death. An unwillingness to self-insure, basically."


I am the poster you are referring to.  And you are incorrect in your assumption that my suggestion to point to ss benefits constitutes an unwillingness to self insure.

I am the CP. I have our child 75% of the time by my x's choosing.  I support our child 100% on my income, and CSED deposits ALL of x's child support directly into our child's 529 college savings plan.  

I have a $500,000 life insurance plan payable into a trust I have set up for my child and an additional $250,000 policy payable to my estate to settle any personal and business debt I may have at the time of my death... any remaining funds are also payable into my childs trust.  My attorney and my father are the trustees charged with maintianing the trust after my death, and so long as my child is under 18, 100% of all interest earned is to go to the day to day support of our child.

I opposed purchasing a seperate policy payable directly to my x for many reasons. I am adaquately insured now and refuse to purchase an additional policy that I am certain my x will spend on their needs as opposed to our childs.  I was able to convince the judge in our case that via the over $800 a month my x would receive in benefits and the interest generated from the trust I have established, our child would be more than adaquately cared for without giving my x a reason to anxiously await my death in hopes of receiving a life insurance pay out.

You jumped to  conclusions. I am in your shoes, I share many of your beliefs that it is my role as a parent to work hard to ensure I leave my child in a better financial position than I am in. However, unlike you I do not believe it is fair to impose those beliefs on my x. I havs my own idea of how our child should be raised, and I will foot the bill for it.  I give my x the opportunity to contribute to extras but Ido not believe I have any right to demand it.  

You are a new single parent. I have been one for 5 years, and I'm sure I sounded just like you 5 years ago.  If I can share just one thing that I've learned along the way with you... it would be forget any preconceived notions you have about what's "right".   Build your budget around YOUR income. Sock the child support away for your child when and if you receive it... and go on about your business.

I agree with you that summer camps, music lessons, etc are all valuable activities for children.. but they dont all have to be done at once. You have 18 years of your childs life to fit all of those experiences in .  My child is 5, and has a firm grasp on the concept of money and can do basic math (addition and subtraction).  Each month as I'm paying bills, I invite my child to sit with me and I share our household budget in simple terms. Ie: we hae $3000 to spend. Here's the house, car, insurance, groceries, etc etc.  And here's your activities, they each cost xyz.. which do you want to do this month to equal $?

You have a lot to learn, but trust me it can be done, and the less you depend on your x the better parent you will both be.

I would run the child support calculations and see if they are accurate.

In my state, MT, the courts only count nights spent in your home as a visitation day for child support calculations.  So even if you have the children from 7am to 9pmevery single day, those days still do not count as visitation days on the child support worksheet as they did not sleep at your home.  Your state may be different though.

If I were you I would pull out a calander, count the number of overnights the children are at your house, and run the calculations yourself to see how accurate the current #'s are.  

If there is a differnce of 30% you can request a downward modification (at least that's the threshhold in MT, your state might be slightly different)

In one of our court hearings, my x reqested we each provide life insurance on ourselves payable to the other as well.  I already have policies on myself payable to family members who have agreed to spend the proceeds the way I have directed.

Instead of purchasing another policy, my attorney presented the court with a copy of my annual social security statement showing that should I die or become disabled my son would receive $889 per month in social security benefits until he reaches 18.  

This satisfied the judge that my son would be financially provided for if anything happened to me and let me off the hook for purchasing another policy.

Maybe you can request a ss statement for your finace and make a similar argument.  

In one of our court hearings, my x reqested we each provide life insurance on ourselves payable to the other as well.  I already have policies on myself payable to family members who have agreed to spend the proceeds the way I have directed.

Instead of purchasing another policy, my attorney presented the court with a copy of my annual social security statement showing that should I die or become disabled my son would receive $889 per month in social security benefits until he reaches 18.  

This satisfied the judge that my son would be financially provided for if anything happened to me and let me off the hook for purchasing another policy.

Maybe you can request a ss statement for your finace and make a similar argument.