Neverending Child Support Calculation Dilemma

[nosonew]

Soc, first, I must thank you for all of the great advice given to me and others in the past.

I am CP. Child just turned 16. Have been custodial for 2 years.

His mother has 4 rental properties I am aware of. She recently quit or was fired from her job and has taken a lower paying job resulting in her child support obligation to be cut in half.

Until now, her rental properties have never been added into child support calculations. However, after having cs decreased by half, she is insistent that it be decreased further due to her "losses on her rentals".

She normally buys a home, lives in it for 6-24 months while fixing it up, then turns it into a rental upon moving to the next fixer-upper.

According to Kansas Child Support Guidelines (site is here):

http://www.kscourts.org/ctruls/csintro.htm

From what I read, her regular job at Kwik Shop would be domestic gross income, and her rental income in self employment gross income.

My questions are:

1. What would reasonable business expenses be for rentals in this situation?

2. To prove rental income, I need to request from her? 1) bank statements showing checks from renters (with copies of checks) going back 12 months? 2) rental contracts in their entirety for all rentals? 3) listing of all rental properties? 4) Tax returns? 5) mortgage interest statements? 6) Cost of insurance? (tax returns questionalbe as they are not always on the up and up and she does her own so I don't know how truthful they are). And what else?

3. How would I word my request to a case manager court ordered by a magistrate judge regarding ALL issues pertaining to our case? (She is the one figuring up the reduction in child support)

4) Any other recommendations?

Thanks in advance...

Nosonew

[socrateaser]

>My questions are:
>
>1. What would reasonable business expenses be for rentals in
>this situation?

Hard to say. All you really need to show is how much she makes, gross, either through rentals or through sales. Then, let her try to account for all the reasonable expenses, and after she does, then you try to tear that argument apart.

>2. To prove rental income, I need to request from her? 1) bank
>statements showing checks from renters (with copies of checks)
>going back 12 months? 2) rental contracts in their entirety
>for all rentals? 3) listing of all rental properties? 4) Tax
>returns? 5) mortgage interest statements? 6) Cost of
>insurance? (tax returns questionalbe as they are not always on
>the up and up and she does her own so I don't know how
>truthful they are). And what else?

You want 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, her property tax checks/statements, and you want the assessed property value from the tax assessor's office, so you can match what she actually paid in taxes. Her cost of insurance is irrelevant, unless you're planning on trying to use that as a means of estimating the value of the properties. As for the tax returns, once you have her copies and her checking statements, if you can show that the numbers don't square, then you can ask the court to go with your numbers and ignore the tax returns. But, you want them, because if you find that she has deliberately misstated her income on her returns, that is a federal felony, and you will have some pretty good leverage against her, because if you report her to the IRS (the state court won't, so forget about that), she could face a prison sentence for tax evasion.

Misstating your deductions gets you penalties and interest charges. Misstating your income, gets you 5-10 years.

>3. How would I word my request to a case manager court ordered
>by a magistrate judge regarding ALL issues pertaining to our
>case? (She is the one figuring up the reduction in child
>support)

It's not clear to me what the case manager has been ordered to do. Are you supposed to pass your discovery requests directly through the case manager, or is the case manager merely looking at what each party offers as evidence and trying to resolve the issue?

Have you raised the issue that you believe that the other parent is substantially misrepresenting her income in a written pleading? If so, then what does that pleading say? If not, then why not?

[nosonew]

>3. How would I word my request to a case manager court ordered
>by a magistrate judge regarding ALL issues pertaining to our
>case? (She is the one figuring up the reduction in child
>support)

>It's not clear to me what the case manager has been ordered to do. Are you supposed to pass your discovery requests directly through the case manager, or is the case manager merely looking at what each party offers as evidence and trying to resolve the issue?

>Have you raised the issue that you believe that the other parent is substantially misrepresenting her income in a written pleading? If so, then what does that pleading say? If not, then why not?

The case manager has been ordered by the court to resolve all conflict, including changes in child support as needed. She is essentially our judge, jury and at times, executioner. The judge will go with her recommendations. That is why I want to ensure she is properly informed as she states she is not knowledgeable about many child support laws and how to calculate certain issues that arise. (Court ordered until child is 18 years of age).

My case mgr looks at what both parties give her and she makes her recommendations from that. She has in the past spoken to attorneys (she is not one) and the judge over-seeing our case. She is to represent the best interests of the child, period.

I would love to write a pleading, however, I have no idea exactly what the other party makes or claims to make. I can only go by what the case mgr sends me. I feel it is my right to have that information to make informed decisions, and am planning to request (tomorrow) that her income infomation from Kwik shop and rentals be sent directly to me or my attorney for review. Which is why I needed to know what to ask for specifically. (thanks).

Thoughts or suggestions? :)

[socrateaser]

You need to serve the other party with a "Request for Production of Documents," and ask specifically for the information you seek. Then if the other party refuses, you must file a "Motion for Order to Compel Discovery," which if violated would result in sanctions and possible jail time for the other party. A request for production goes something like (assumes you are petitioner, other party respondent:

In the _____ Court for the State of _______
County of _______

In re the matter of YOU and HER:

Case No. ?????

To: OTHERPARTYSNAME, Respondent

Petitioner, YOURNAME, by and through his attorney, ATTORNEYNAME, hereby requests that you produce the following:

(Usually, there will be some boilerplate about terms and definitions for the requests, as well as a date after which an answer will no longer be considered timely, and then the list.)

1. Copies of all checking, savings, brokerage, investment, and/or any other account statements of Respondent or Respondent's business interests, dated at any time from January 1, 2002 until the present date.

2. Copies of all receipts, contracts, and/or listing agreements, for rentals, leases, sales, and/or for any other real property transaction in which Respondent was and/or is involved dated from January 1, 2002 until the present date.

3. Copies of all personal, corporate and/or partnership, federal and state tax returns, for any tax id # in which Respondent had a greater than 1% interest dated from January 1, 2002 until the present date.

4. and so on...

Dated ________

By: __________
ATTORNEYNAME
Attorney for Petitioner

--------------------
Alternatively, you can serve the above along with a "Notice of Deposition," where you will take testimony related to the documentary evidence that you seek discovered.

Anyway, if you have an attorney, the attorney should know what to ask for and how to ask for it...I'm just giving you a quick and dirty idea of the basic flow.

[nosonew]

THANK YOU THANK YOU... You're the best!--Noso