Change in CS amount?

[Shenzi414]

Hello. I am hoping someone might be able to give me a little advice. Dh has joint legal custody and secondary custody of his 6 year old daughter. We have her EOWE, 1 night a week for 3 hours, and 50% of holidays during the school year. During the summer we have 50% or more.

Currently DH pays approximately $500 dollars a month to BM. She doesn't have an income. She informed us a month ago that she wants to get a job. My stepdaughter announced the other day that her sisters go to daycare now. I am curious..if she did get a job, does this need to be reported to CS? If she did get a job, could this lower the CS amount my DH pays?

If it matters any, we live in Wisconsin.

Thanks!

[mistoffolees]

I would look up the guidelines in Wisconsin.

In general, if you're paying exactly the guideline amount and she starts earning an income, it would reduce your DH's amount. However:

1. He would have to file with the court for a reduction based on the change in circumstances.
2. His reduction might not be enough to make it worth the aggravation particularly if her income is high and hers is low (use the calculator for your state and estimate her income).
3. If he's paying less than the guidelines, he could go to court for a reduction and find that his payment actually goes up.
4. If he tries to reduce the support payment, that reduces the incentive for the BM to work and she might decide it's not worth the trouble.
5. In setting the current CS level, the court may have already imputed income to her, so her actually working might not make ANY difference.

Use the calculator for your state to see what is likely to happen. You'll probably want to see how it was calculated at the beginning.

[Jade]

>Hello. I am hoping someone might be able to give me a little
>advice. Dh has joint legal custody and secondary custody of
>his 6 year old daughter. We have her EOWE, 1 night a week for
>3 hours, and 50% of holidays during the school year. During
>the summer we have 50% or more.
>
>Currently DH pays approximately $500 dollars a month to BM.
>She doesn't have an income. She informed us a month ago that
>she wants to get a job. My stepdaughter announced the other
>day that her sisters go to daycare now. I am curious..if she
>did get a job, does this need to be reported to CS? If she did
>get a job, could this lower the CS amount my DH pays?
>
>If it matters any, we live in Wisconsin.
>
>Thanks!

That depends on how much she makes and how your state computes child support.  I live in a shared income state.  My ex's child support would actually go down if I were to become a stay at home mom.  

The more combined money in the pot, the more money that is available for the support of the child.   If I were the mother, I would go for a modification and get it set up to where the ncp is paying his share of the daycare expenses.  

Before the father open a can of worms, I would find out if it would actually be beneficial to the father to do so.  Because the father may end up paying more child support as a result.