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My child support is more than 50% of my take-home pay- is this legal?
No, it is not legal for your child support to be set at more than 50% (if you're remarried) and 60% (single) or 5% more than that if there is an arrearage of more than 3 months. (These percentages apply to your net income after taxes.) For more information, read this article on Maximum Child Support Limits.
My ex isn't spending the child support on the kids. Can I make him/her account for how the support money is spent?
Unfortunately, very few States support any any accounting at all of how child support money is spent. In most cases the money may be spent on whatever the custodial parent wants.
You might be able to get a judge to order the custodial parent to provide an accounting of how the money is spent, but it will be an uphill battle.
If the custodial parent is ordered to provide an accounting, they may falsify the items and expenditure amounts, and it would be difficult to prove or disprove their claims without going to a great deal of trouble and expense.
Check your State Statutes to see if your state is one of the few that has any provision regarding accounting for child support expenditures.
The Child Support office has miscalculated my payments; now they claim I have an arrears! What do I do?
It is, unfortunately, not uncommon for Support Enforcement Offices to miscalculate support payments. The bookkeeping practices they perform are often done improperly.
Read this article if a State (or privately-administered collection company) incorrectly claims you have child support arrears, or claims an erroneously inflated arrears amount: Challenging Erroneous Arrears Claims.
How can I prevent unjust seizure of my Income Tax refund check?
The surest way to prevent your Income Tax refund check from being seized unfairly is to simply alter your witholding so there is no refund to seize. The following article discusses this in more detail: Preventing Unfair Seizure of IRS Refunds.
Can my ex make me pay for a private school for our child?
In some cases, yes. Although courts are generally reluctant to place the financial burden for private schooling on the non-custodial parent, it's not unheard of by any means. If your child has special medical or educational needs then it's more likely that a judge would allow the cost of private schooling to be added to the support obligation.
Most courts are also reluctant to force a non-custodial parent to bear the costs of a religiously-oriented school, possibly since this would amount to judicial (and by extension, State) "approval" of a particular religion. Again, this isn't unheard of.