Child Support Question

[jcsct5]

My ex informed me today that he intends to go from working 40 hours a week to approxamatley 15 hours a week in order to attend school.

As a result of him going to school he will receive additional money from the VA to go to school.

He claims this will begin next month, and we are set to go to court on Friday to determine child support for the last 18 months and a figure for future support.

It seems to me that he should be held to his 40 hour a week earnings plus the additional amounts he receives from the VA. I'm sure he will argue that he cannot go to school and work full time, however I did just that (worked full time and went to school full time) as I had to support my children.

He is arguing that he should have to include the money from the VA and only the 15 hours from work.

He would get the same amount of VA benefit regardless of the number of hours worked.

We are in CA
1.  Is my thinking backed by any case law, or can he substitute one income sorce for another?

2. Do you have any suggestions as to what arguments I should make to support my side?

Thank you for your time.

[socrateaser]

>1.  Is my thinking backed by any case law, or can he
>substitute one income sorce for another?

Everyone is presumed to be able to earn minimum wage at 40 hours per week. If your ex is actually arguing that he wants to limit his hours to attend school he will lose that argument, unless he can show the court that his schooling will very quickly (i.e., within 6 months) result in a marked increase in his earning capacity.

There are appellate cases on each side of this issue, but if the schooling is simply general education study, the court will say "tough beans, pay your support."

If he is arguing simply that he is involuntarily unemployed and that he can only get 15 hours at the moment, then the court will impute his support to minimum wage for 40 hours.

>
>2. Do you have any suggestions as to what arguments I should
>make to support my side?

If you want an argument, then you must post the exact text of his supporting declaration, so I know exactly what he's arguing.

[SadStepMom]

If he is going to school fulltime and working full time, will they also calculate the VA benefits into the equation?

[socrateaser]

>If he is going to school fulltime and working full time, will
>they also calculate the VA benefits into the equation?

If the benefits are regular and routine (monthly and expected to continue for the foreseeable future), then yes.