The big difference between salaries

[LESLIEONE1]

Hello Socrateaser,
Divorce has been final 4 years, major custody battle. He has money I didnt. Two kids involved. We have joint custody, ex husband has physical custody.  Boys are now 18 and 15, but 18 year old will not graduate till May 07. My wages are being garnished, plus arrears. Question is this..Ex spouses income is almost  80% higher than mine. They are garnishing 40% of my income for support and arrears.  He makes $85,000  MORE a year then my $30,000 a year income.  Is there a point where the support would drop drastically or cease? His income could be even higher next year although mine will stay the same.  We live in North Carolina.

Thank you

[socrateaser]

>Hello Socrateaser,
>Divorce has been final 4 years, major custody battle. He has
>money I didnt. Two kids involved. We have joint custody, ex
>husband has physical custody.  Boys are now 18 and 15, but 18
>year old will not graduate till May 07. My wages are being
>garnished, plus arrears. Question is this..Ex spouses income
>is almost  80% higher than mine. They are garnishing 40% of my
>income for support and arrears.  He makes $85,000  MORE a year
>then my $30,000 a year income.  Is there a point where the
>support would drop drastically or cease? His income could be
>even higher next year although mine will stay the same.  We
>live in North Carolina.

May 07 should see a significant decrease in support. I understand that 40% seems ridiculous, but I have known persons who have been slammed with 65% garnishments, so don't think you're all alone. If you want the law changed, you need to complain to your state legislators.

The simple statement should be something like: "Parents should get equal custody, absent a showing of parental unfitness, not based upon the child(ren)'s best interests, and if you don't change the law, then I will vote against you and any other candidate who shares your view, regardless of how you or they vote on any other issue."

Nothing else will ever work. Children are the "bargaining chip" in a huge industry that is used to extract money from parents and put it into government's pocket by way of federal matching dollars. Unfortunately, the laws are constitutional, or at least the courts will not invalidate them, so the only alternative is to vote out the legislative supporters until no more are left.

If you don't, then you have no one to blame but yourself.