Support & disability insurance

[Otto Mann]

Currently paying support for 2 children. My obligation for 1 will be ending soon. I want to calculate my support payment for the 1 remaining child. The problem is the other parent will shortly be going on long term disability. They will be receiving 2/3 of their pay which is not taxed. When calculating support gross pay is used. So if they were grossing $3900 a month AND being taxed but now will be grossing $2600 WITHOUT being taxed it appears to me that I'm going to get ripped here. It will lower our combined gross but it will raise my %. Their NET pay will probably be lower than before but not anywhere near $1300 lower yet they will get to lower their gross by $1300 for support calculation purposes. Am I thinking correctly here? Or am I missing something?

[Jade]

>Currently paying support for 2 children. My obligation for 1
>will be ending soon. I want to calculate my support payment
>for the 1 remaining child. The problem is the other parent
>will shortly be going on long term disability. They will be
>receiving 2/3 of their pay which is not taxed. When
>calculating support gross pay is used. So if they were
>grossing $3900 a month AND being taxed but now will be
>grossing $2600 WITHOUT being taxed it appears to me that I'm
>going to get ripped here. It will lower our combined gross but
>it will raise my %. Their NET pay will probably be lower than
>before but not anywhere near $1300 lower yet they will get to
>lower their gross by $1300 for support calculation purposes.
>Am I thinking correctly here? Or am I missing something?

The other parent's % will probably go down.  And since it isn't a willing choice on the other parent's part (you need to have a medical reason and a doctor's signature to get disability), there isn't anything that you can do to prevent this.  

And I wouldn't be too sure about it not being taxed.  I know that when I went on short-term disability after my oldest was born, taxes weren't taken out, but I did have to declare it as income and ended up owing the IRS as a result.  

[mistoffolees]

>Currently paying support for 2 children. My obligation for 1
>will be ending soon. I want to calculate my support payment
>for the 1 remaining child. The problem is the other parent
>will shortly be going on long term disability. They will be
>receiving 2/3 of their pay which is not taxed. When
>calculating support gross pay is used. So if they were
>grossing $3900 a month AND being taxed but now will be
>grossing $2600 WITHOUT being taxed it appears to me that I'm
>going to get ripped here. It will lower our combined gross but
>it will raise my %. Their NET pay will probably be lower than
>before but not anywhere near $1300 lower yet they will get to
>lower their gross by $1300 for support calculation purposes.
>Am I thinking correctly here? Or am I missing something?


What you're missing is that you're not the one who calculates your support obligation. What does your divorce agreement say? If it's silent on the issue, then you're going to need to get a clarification from the court. Just changing your support payment (even if the other party agrees) without court approval is a very bad move.

[Otto Mann]

Yeah, I didn't think there was anything I could do about it if my thinking was correct. I was unsure if the way I was seeing it was correct though. I was just running the numbers to see what the support calculator came up with. I know I am not the one who will actually decide how much I pay. Wouldn't that be nice..........

[Jade]

>Yeah, I didn't think there was anything I could do about it
>if my thinking was correct. I was unsure if the way I was
>seeing it was correct though. I was just running the numbers
>to see what the support calculator came up with. I know I am
>not the one who will actually decide how much I pay. Wouldn't
>that be nice..........
>
>
>
>
Depends on who gets to choose.  I think both sides would like to be able to decide how much is paid.  Which is probably why it ends up in court and the guidelines are applied.

One word of caution about online cs calculators, they can be off by a couple of hundred dollars.  I know the numbers (I needed a ballpark figure to see if I could even attempt to keep the kids in their home) that I came up with that my ex would be paying was higher than what the court came up with, it did give me a general idea though.