Assessing Arrears and Imputing Income

[uncle_baby19]

My ex filed for a custody modification last September, in my answer to her motion I filed for an increase in child support.

 I was originally awarded custody of my son in October 2005 after my ex married a convicted rapist and moved from MD to NJ.  At the hearing my ex was five months pregnant and was not working, so the judge did not order any child support.  Went back to court in July 2006 and my ex brought no pay stubs but stated she only made $10/hr.  I told my attorney that I felt she was lying about her income, but he said we either base it on $10 or we would have to postpone the hearing.  My son has special needs, so based on her making $10, she was supposed to pay $500/month.  She then asked for and was granted a $150/month credit to help her with the travel expenses to visit our son.  To add insult to injury, I found out later that she had moved back to NJ before the hearing.  I didn't take her right back to court because I was trying to keep the peace, did not want to incur any more legal fees and for me, I was just happy  to have my son.

So here we are in the present, like I said I filed for a modification back in September.  We went to a pretrial hearing in March and was supposed to have the trial on July 18th.  My ex rejected the custody evaluation that favored me because the evaluator did not speak with my son's doctors or teachers (re: his special needs).  I tried to get child support handled while we were there, but once again my ex did not have have any proof of income, although it is documented that she told the evaluator that she makes $18.00/hr.  The judge ordered her to bring proof to the next hearing which will be in the next few months.  

My concern is that she is currently pregnant again and by the time we go back to court she will probably not be working again.  My question is will she be assessed arrears based on the date that I filed?  Can I ask that she show proof from a doctor that she cannot work? I mean its one thing if you leave work towards the end, but she normally stops working around 4 or 5 months. Will she be imputed an income, or will they base it on her $37k salary, but not make her start paying it until a certain amount of  time after she gives birth. Based on my son's health expenses and our incomes she should be paying me $700/month instead of $350.

[Giggles]

Is she current in her CS payments?

Typically, in MD arrears DO date back to the date filed but I've found that they don't do much to impute incomes or press to have accurate income documentation.

At this point it's pretty much a crap shoot...you could get a hard nosed judge that goes strictly by the letter of the law...or you could get a far more liberal judge who thinks because she's supporting "other" children...that you're mean and reduce your support even further....

Just FYI....I would be THRILLED to be getting $350 a month!!  I only get $275 for my son....

[uncle_baby19]

Yes, I am in MD.

And while she is supporting other children.  So am I.  I have two other children with my current wife. When my son lived with her, i did my fair share.  I paid 600 dollars a month in child support back when I was only making $12/hr while trying to support my other family members. I never missed a payment and never complained.  My son has health issues and I spend a great amount of money on his medications and speech therapy. I received no support from her for the first 9 months that he lived with me and I didn't complain. She lied in court to get her child support reduced and I didn't complain.  She is currently a month behind in her child support payments. She should be happy with the break she has had for the past two years of paying 300 less than she should have been. How can I be viewed as mean when I am only trying to get my son the support that he is entitled to. I in no way want to take anything from her other kids, but I don't want my kids to suffer either.  

Initially I was thrilled to be getting $350 but her income is almost double what her CS was based on.  Luckily for my ex, my wife works a schedule that means we don't have to put our son in before or after care or her child support would be around $800.

[Giggles]

But fortunately, MD is a bit more stringent with CS than most.

I too am in MD and my X is currently over $10K in arrears.  He was over $18K but they managed to seize one of his bank accounts!!

Does your case go through CSE?  If not, I HIGHLY reccomend that you file to do so!!  That way they expend the resources to enforce and such and all it costs is $25 a year...well worth it!!  Plus it's nice to have it directly deposited!!