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Well - the NCP filed to modify, claiming to be disabled.  Multiple trips later to court - -during which the NCP never gave proof that she went part-time, eventually brought in stuff from dr on her disability (that the judge didn't bother to look)- - - we finally get a decision/court order.  We were so sick of it we didn't even go to court the last time.  Our lawyer went and check in with the judge.

So - first thing, when NCP claimed she had to go part-time, but couldn't say how many hours she would be working - the judge picked a number out of the air and set child support to $66/month for 2 kids!

Now NCP has been approved for disability, the girls will be getting social security benefits.  So judge waives child support.  The order stated that CP was in court represented pro-se - - nope!  Wasn't there and is always represented by our lawyer.  Court ordered stated NCP and CP both agreed the children were getting ss benefits.  Nope - CP wasn't there to agree to anything and ss checks are suppose to start in April, haven't received anything yet.

The crowning touch?  NCP is $1922 in arrears.  The judge orders her to pay $10 a month toward arrears!!!!!!!   Great - in just 16 years, she will be done.

What a total crock.   It is a good thing we don't need child support!  But it does make me wonder what those single parents that NEED child support do..............

Insane

My husband has custody of his 2 girls, 15 and 17, and has for over 3 1/2 years.  Short story - stepfather was molesting them, mother didn't believe it - - and still doesn't.  She is still married to him and the girls refuse to see or even talk with their mother.

For the first year, we didn't file for child support.  Then PBFH filed motions to find my husband in contempt for not forcing visitation, and the funniest one - motion to compel all parties to undergo mental health evaluations!  We told her to drop the suits, or we would file for child support.

So we did.  She tried her best to get out of paying.  Tried to claim the 19 yr old son was incapable of functioning as an adult and she should be given credit for having "custody" of him.  That didn't fly - - - and she was ordered to pay $340/month.

She now has thyroid cancer and claims she is unable to work full-time.  She went back to court this past March to have child support lowered.  This was enforcement court I guess - and what a joke!  She has a single letter from her doctor saying that she needed to cut back on her hours.  No mention of how much, how long - we didn't even get a copy of the letter.  The judge made up some number of hours and calculated support based on this imaginary number.  Of course, her income for part-time was in the poverty level and her child support was set to $66/month! - for 2 teenage girls!  

The judge did set a date to review - and that date is this Friday.  We subpoenaed her income info (paystubs, tax return, etc), medical records/info on ability to work, her husband's income to be able to calculate her credit for their child, etc etc.  Of course, she file a motion to quash.

We are just sick of it.  Part of us wants to make her pay.  She took child support from my husband for years - and failed to provide or protect the kids.  She KNEW and did nothing!  And now we are finding out bits and pieces of the emotional abuse the girls endured from her.  The only way we have to make her pay is finanacially.

But - we are sick of even having to deal with her at all, or having to go to court, to face the possibility that she may think she has "won" by using her illness as an excuse.  (Thyroid cancer typically is just not that big of a deal.  She has always been lazy and never wanted to work.  I doubt it is as much a case of her being unable to work as unwilling and is using this as an excuse).

So - - we have pretty much decided that we will go to court Friday and waive child support.  I don't know that we are willing to forgive arrears (currently around $2200).  

Anyway - just felt like getting this all out -- - cause while the decision is pretty much made, part of me still wants some amount of revenge.

I asked our lawyer.  She said we could subpeona the info as it was needed for the worksheet.

The worksheet to determine child support gives "credit" for other child and this credit is passed on the income of that child's parents - BOTH parents.

So - - guess we will see what happens.................  Seems like this particular court plays pretty loose with the rules.  They lowered PBFH's child support with nothing more than a doctor's note saying she needed to cut back her hours.  Sept 15 is date for review when she is suppose to have paystubs and all- - - - but who knows?  Understand that she may be trying for disability

Oh well -- - there is the summary!  As well as the update!

Sorry - only had time for a quick search and couldn't find anything.

If the parent paying CS goes on disability, how does that affect CS?  I'm not even entirely sure how disability works!   Would that be income and CS calculated on that?  Would the kids be entitled to SSI? and if so, does that affect the amount of disability paid and/or child support?

THANKS

Just wondering if anyone knows  - - -

We are in NC and have my husband's 2 kids full-time.  His ex pays child support, and has another child with her current husband.  The NC child support worksheet allows a credit for additional children, but it also has a slot for the other parent's income (ie ex's new husband) so that this amount can be calculated.

Husband's ex had child support modified back in March due to illness Was really somewhat of a joke as she had no paystubs or anything, just a note from the dr saying she needed to 'cut back' her hours.  We didn't even get a copy of the dr's note.  Judge must have felt sorry for her and set child support based on the currently hourly rate and 20 hours a week.  They also put in a full credit for her other child - - and that put her below poverty level and cut her child support from $340/month to $66/month - - - for 2 teenagers!  

Anyway - the judge did order a review in Sept, when the ex is suppose to bring paystubs.  I doubt she does and we will probably have our lawyer subpeona them.    But curious if we could subpeona the new husband's income records since that is needed to fully fill out the worksheet.  Anyone know?

I mean - I know his income has nothing to do with the support of the kids - - just like my income doesn't.  But it does have a lot to do with the support of his kid which does affect the child support calculation.
(Our lawyer is out of the country for a couple of weeks.  I'll ask her when she gets back, but am just curious)

Using the CS calculator on the NC CSE website, the following is possible:

CP of 2 kids with salary    $10,000/month
NCP with salary               $1400/month
NCP CS: $397.00

Now let's give the NCP a raise of $100/month:

CP of 2 kids with salary                               $10,000/month
NCP with another biological child with salary    $1500/month
NCP CS: $200.48

Did you catch that?  NCP's salary went UP, the amount of CS went DOWN!!  

That is due to this rather insane, but I'm sure well intended, provision for low-income parents.  Basically, if the NCP's salary falls below a minimum amount, only the NCP's salary is used for calculating the CS.

Of course, after they go above that minimum level, the standard "combine the income to determine the overall CS" goes into effect.  Then the percentage of the overall salary respresented by the NCP is much smaller and results in a much smaller CS amount.

How crazy is that?!?!?! And how can it be right that an NCP is expected to pay almost $400 in CS when they only make $1400??  And that $400 is going to a parent that makes $10,000?  

Either as the payer or the payee?  If so, what proof was needed?  What was done to show if the person could/could not work due to the illness?  Was there any consideration given to whether the person would qualify for disabilty?

I did go back and found the part on Bobby Sherrill.  Obviously, this was an unfortunate occurrance (probably should use stronger language than that!).  I did a few searches, but couldn't find any followup.

Do you happen to know what the follow on was?  Did things get straightened out?  Did the powers that be take into account the situation after it came to light?

CP has sole custody of the kids.
CP makes about 5 times what NCP makes.

Should there be any child support paid to the CP?

I know there are probably a lot of father's (and others) on this board that feel  they are being screwed by child support and think the current child support calculations are unfair.

What are your ideas for how to fairly calculate child support?  How do you think it should be done?

I really don't know how you could fairly determine child support.  After 8 years of paying child support, my husband is now on the receiving side of child support.  We never really had an issue with the amount of child support (although it was what I considered to be a substantial amount).  Our big problem was that the money did not appear to be spent on the children.  So I would like to see some form of accountability added into child support.

So - ideas on how to do child support fairly?

Long story short....My husband now has custody of his 2 girls, 13 and 15.  Their stepfather was sexually molesting them and their mother did not and does not believe them.  As a result, they want NOTHING to do with her.

She filed motions against us - insane stuff.  As a result, we filed for child support.  First, the girls are entitled to at least financial support from their mother (especially after my husband religiously paid $1390/month for the 3 kids - oldest kid is almost 20 and no longer consider for child support).  Second, we thought if she could afford to pay the lawyer and go to court, then she could certainly afford to pay child support.

Anyway - she tried to get out of paying.  Basic argument was the claim that older son has Aspeger's and couldn't function as an adult (although there was no doctor to verify this supposed diagnosis) AND that we made so much more money than she did.  Now why she thought my income should be considered, I do not know.

She was ordered to pay child support.  Our state, NC, uses income shares model to determine child support so the difference in salary is taken into account.  She was ordered to pay $340/month for the 2 girsl, starting July 1st. To date, we have received one month's child support (plus the one month's arrears amount - arrears going back to the time of filing).

She has a court date of Nov 5 to explain why she is not paying child support.  (This was an automatic thing by CSE, we had no part in it).  Now, to make things interesting - she had surgery at the end of last month for thyroid cancer.  I'm sure she will use that the try to get the judge to feel sorry for her and to say she can't pay because of her illness (btw - thyroid cancer has an extremely high survival rate and is really not a horrible, debilatating thing).

Anyway - after hearing the story's of the dad's and their valid explanations of disabilities, it will be interesting to see how the courts handle "mommie dearest".  

I don't usually post on this board, but wanted to share our day in court.

My husband has 3 kids.  They lived with their mother and her new husband.  My husband paid $1390/month child support.

Last year, the 2 younger girls (now 13 and 14) told us that their stepfather had been molesting them.  Further, the older girl had told her mother 1 1/2 years earlier - and her mother did NOTHING.  Her mother convinced her that it was all just a "misunderstanding".

We immediately reported this to the police and filed for an emergency custody order.   Lots more to this part of the story - but not really relevant to the issue of child support.

My husband's ex still does not believe her husband did anything - even after he plead guilty to 2 charges of assault on a female, specifying that the assault was inappropriate touching on the minor girls.  As a result, the girls want nothing to do with her.  She then filed a motion to hold my husband in contempt for not forcing the girls to visit and a motion requesting the court order mental evaluations.

After that, we decided we would not allow her to continue to file motions "risk-free".  We attached a motion for child support.

Finally, after almost a year - it is court time.  She has withdrawn her motions, but we refuse to withdraw the child support.  She filed a motion to deviate from the standards.  Her contention was that the 19 1/2 year old son was disabled due to Aspergers (which he was evaluated for the Friday before court - nice timing, huh?) and that she was unable to afford child support.

The judge was unimpressed.  There was no doctor to testify to this condition, so that fell by the wayside.  Then they wer left with whining that me and my husband made soooo much money and his poor client was broke.

The judge finally went nuts.  Said that they had men with high incomes come into court everyday and woman who had stayed at home and didn't have hardly any income - and nobody batted an eye when the men where order to pay huge amounts of child support.  And now the tables were turned and they didn't like it - the shoe was on the other foot.   When they continued to whine about how much money my husband and I make, the judge said "Yeah and Mike Tyson is a millionaire and he is broke".

We finished the case yesterday.  The judge denied the motion to deviate and she was order to pay child support per the guidelines!

So - the system does work sometimes!

We are in court this week and I need to find out about the specifics of coverage of stepchildren by employees of Airborne Express/DHL.  My husband ex-wife is trying to weasel out of paying child support (husband has custody after the stepfather sexually molested the girls).  Anyway - she wants to continue to have her husband carry the stepkids on his insurance and get credit for it.

We need to find out if Airborne Express/DHL benefits allow an employee to even cover stepkids that do not live with them.

THANKS!!!!!

All parties are currently in NC.

Separation agreement from 1994 states:

"HUSBAND agrees to pay one-half of all charges for tuition, room and board, custoary student and athletic fees, textbooks, on-campus transporatation and the like for each of the three children born of the marriage, in the event each child enrolls in and attends a college, university or technical school beyond high school.  All said sums shall be payable directly to the institution(s) in which the child enrolls within thirty (30) days following billing or notice by said institution.  HUSBAND's obligation shall not exceed one-half of the costs for tuition, room and board, customary student and athletic fees, textbooks, on-campus transportation and the like at a North Carolina state supported university.  Each child must maintain a G.P.A of 2.0 or greater.  HUSBAND's obigation to pay for post-high school expenses shall not exceed a period of five years of education for each child."

Oldest 'child' is 21 year old son and lives with BM, dropped out of high school and obtained his GED.  Over the past 2 years, son has enrolled in community college, completing 6 classes over 4 semesters- some of which are remedial and do not count toward a degree and one that is pass/fail and does not affect GPA.

The first semester that son enrolled in, BM requested I pay half the cost and presented bill 2 days before it was due.  When I attempted to pay, I found the tuition had already been paid in full by the stepfather.  I wrote a letter indicating I would reimburse when presented with transcript showing 2.0 GPA as required.

BM is now requesting reimbursement for the past 2 years worth of classes.  Transcript lists a 2.0 cumulative GPA, but several classes do not count toward a degree and several do not count toward the GPA calculation.

In addition, tuition has been paid for by the son's stepfather, not by the BM or son.


1) Am I obligated to reimburse BM?

2) If I'm obligated to pay, am I obligated to pay for classes that do not count toward a degree or do not get calculated into the GPA since the agreement was that a 2.0 or greater be maintained?

3) Since son is past age of majority, is this a matter between me and son rather than me and BM?

4) If legally obligated to reimburse BM, could I insist the amount be credited to the arrears she owes in child support, or are these 2 separate and distinct obligations that cannot be co-mingled?

THANKS

(Additional info that probably is not relevant, but will mention:

Son is totally estranged from me, and the 2 minor daughters from the BM.

Stepfather pled guilty (Alford plea) to 2 counts of assault on a female, stipulating assault was inappropriate touching of the 2 minor females (my daughters).

BM has recently had CS reduced due to illness, but is ~$2500 in arrears.

Stepfather currently owes me $750 in restitution for therapy for the girls.

[img src=http://www.deltabravo.net/dc/pics/exwife.jpg]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=416970

Pretty positive article - a few hiccups, but all and all, pretty good I think.

Just disgusting

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/14/daughter.killed.ap/index.html

Now THIS is really insane!  Puh-leaze!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/06/children.drowned/index.html

Yates' murder conviction overturned
Texas court reverses 2003 ruling of woman who drowned her kids

(CNN) -- A Texas appeals court in Houston Thursday reversed the capital murder convictions of Andrea Yates, the woman who drowned her five children in a bathtub, citing the false testimony of a prosecution witness.

According to a report from The Associated Press, Yates' lawyers argued last month before a three-judge panel of the First Court of Appeals in Houston that psychiatrist Park Dietz was wrong when he said he consulted on an episode of the TV show "Law and Order" involving a woman found innocent by reason of insanity for drowning her children.

After Yates was convicted, attorneys in the case and jurors learned no such episode existed, the AP reported.

Jurors in 2002 sentenced Yates to life in prison in the 2001 deaths of three of her children. She was not tried in the deaths of the other two.

Yates told authorities that Satan told her to kill the children. Despite a documented history of mental illness, a jury rejected her plea of innocent by reason of insanity and convicted her of murder in 2002. She was sentenced to life in prison but will be eligible for parole in 40 years.
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http://channels.aimtoday.com/crime/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0002/20050104/0814373789.htm

Absolutely revolting.  

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/12/31/toddler.custody.ap/index.html

So, mommie dear can gladly hand over kid for adoption and everything is cool until dad says he wants custody.   Then all of a sudden mommie dearest WANTS custody and GETS custody?  

Of course, the sad part is the kid, now 3 1/2 and being ripped away from the only parents he has known - - - -

Wish the article had given more info on why the father was denied - - there was the mention of an assault in the home, but nothing further.  One would have to think that if this man was indeed violent and abusive, he wouldn't have even gotten "liberal visitation" - - - so what gives there?


-------------------------------------------------

Biological mother wins custody dispute
Mother picks up son for 'transitional visit'

Friday, December 31, 2004 Posted: 4:57 PM EST (2157 GMT)

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -- A 31/2-year-old boy at the center of a three-way custody battle was handed over to his biological mother, leaving the couple who had been raising him since his birth in tears.

Evan Scott's mother, Amanda Hopkins, who had won a court battle, picked up the boy Thursday for a "transitional visit" to his new home. Hopkins lives on a Navy base in Illinois with her husband and infant daughter.

Dawn and Gene Scott, who have cared for the boy since his birth in May 2001, are still seeking to overturn a judge's order denying them custody.

"I know he is confused," Dawn Scott said in an interview Friday on NBC's "Today." "I know he didn't understand all this turmoil happening in his life right now."

The Scotts, of Atlantic Beach, hugged and kissed the boy as they handed him over to the mother. After the visit of a few days, Evan is expected to return to Florida for about a week before moving to Illinois.

The timetable for Evan's visit was not released and most court records on the boy's case have been sealed by a judge. Under Florida law, adoption records are not public records.

Hopkins and the boy's father, Steven A. White Jr., never married, and she did not learn she was pregnant until she sought medical treatment for injuries suffered when she was assaulted in the residence they once shared, court documents show.

Hopkins supported the Scotts' adoption of Evan until it appeared the court might grant White's request for custody.

"I have sympathy for everyone on all sides of the whole situation," Dawn Scott told "Today." "It's been really difficult for everyone. I am sure she found herself in a difficult position. But our main concern is the best interest of the child."

Calls by The Associated Press to attorneys for White and Hopkins were not returned Friday.

When Hopkins was pregnant with the boy, she met the Scotts and agreed to a private adoption. The Scotts watched Evan's birth, and he was placed with the Scotts two days later.

The adoption was supposed to become final in August 2001, but a month before that, White filed a motion demanding immediate custody. The Scotts claimed White should not be able to block the adoption, but a judge disagreed.

Hopkins has another child, age 19 months, with her husband in Illinois.

The Scotts will continue trying to overturn a judge's ruling, said Susan Pniewski, their attorney. While giving Hopkins custody, the court ordered that White be given liberal visitation rights.