Child support question

[williaer]

Ex and I have shared parenting/custody in Ohio

We wrote the agreement ourselves. Ex is getting ready to take a voluntary pay cut and I would like to look into adjusting the CS.

The exact wording is, "Father will continue to pay child support at the current set amount, through ____county Child Support".


My thought was- yes the current amount is what it is- but if we were to go for an adjustment and it was less...wouldn't that then become the current amount?


1. Does this wording leave it open to adjustment?

[socrateaser]

I'm confused. Who is the obligor parent, who is voluntarily reducing his/her income, and who wants to modify the current support order?

[williaer]

I am the obligor still- even though we have 50/50. Can I e-mail you the shared paretning agreement and you can tell me what you think?

[williaer]

I can actually just cut and paste it without having to bore you with the other details- here goes:
_______________________________________________________
CHILD SUPPORT AND FINANCIAL ISSUES
The Parents agree that Child Support will remain at the current set amount  per month from Father to Mother, continuing to be paid through Jackson County Child Support.

The Parents agree that Mother will be responsible for the cost of the Child's school lunches.
The Parents agree that Father will be responsible for the cost of any extra-curricular activities that the Child participates in.

Parents agree that they will alternate claiming the Child as a tax deduction, with Mother claiming her in the tax year 2006 and alternating between them in subsequent years.

The Parents agree to divide the costs of any summer school or tutoring that the Child participates in.

_______________________________________________________
So I am the Father here. Mother is "getting" her doctor to sign her off of work and plans to bleed the unemployment system dry for as long as they will keep her on it (for having a baby). I only agreed to the continuation of the child support because she was going to pay $2.25 a day for school lunches- which would have reduced the support to about the right number- but now she has decided to fight the school on that    (and as you pointed out in your response to my question on that- will likely win)...so I want it to be adjusted to a fair amount- without having to scrap the entire shared parenting agreement. My wife (new) is the one who compiled the agreement- and we are clearly not attorney's. Had we looked at all of these potentials for loop holes to be made- we would have just spent the $500 and let an attorney look over it before I agreed to it and signed off on it.

So the question stands:
If she goes on unemployment and voluntarily stays off work- can I ask for an adjustment with child support and that number becomes the "set" amount referred to in the paragraph, or am I stuck with what I pay now- because that is the "current" amount?

[socrateaser]

>So the question stands:
>If she goes on unemployment and voluntarily stays off work-
>can I ask for an adjustment with child support and that number
>becomes the "set" amount referred to in the paragraph, or am I
>stuck with what I pay now- because that is the "current"
>amount?

Assuming that you are in a jurisdiction that calculates support based on the income of both parents ("income shares" model), then the fact that the other parent's income is reduced, would actually increase your support obligation, not decrease it.

The only way that you can obtain a downward modification is to prove that the other parent is capable of earning more than she currently earns, because if she is intentionally working below her earning capacity, then she can have that difference imputed as income, to encourage her to work to her earning capacity.

So, if she goes off work, but is capable of earning twice what she was when you entered into the current order, then you can get a downward mod, but if she's only capable of earning what she was earning at that time or less, then you can't get a downward mod and you're stuck with what you have now.