Child Support

[PalomaChavez]

I have a question,my husband is paying child support for his son who lives in Florida.When he signed to pay the child support he was working in California where he was getting paid at at the time $17.00 hr. Now we live in Texas and is getting paid $7.00 hr. so he asked child support in Florida if there was a modification that could be made because he couldn't  afford what he was paying before. They told him that he had to wait three years for them to make that modification.I believe he was paying more child support because at the time he was the one making more money ,the mom of his kid makes about $9.00 hr. Is there any other thing he can do. Thanks

[Brent]

>paid $7.00 hr. so he asked child support in Florida if there
>was a modification that could be made because he couldn't
>afford what he was paying before. They told him that he had to
>wait three years for them to make that modification.

I'm not certain they told him the truth. There is a cap on the amount they can legally take; if his pay decreased by 40% and the support amount didn't decrease at all, it's possible that they're taking more than the max.

See:

Maximum Child Support Limits
http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/max-cs.htm

Even if they aren't taking the maximum, he may still be able to apply for a downward mod. You might want to check the Texas and Florida  CS Statutes:

Florida:
http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/tgbfl.htm


Texas:
http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/tgbtx.htm


Another CS Link:
http://www.supportguidelines.com

[wendl]

I just looked up the FL guidelines it states:

b)  The guidelines may provide the basis for proving a substantial change in circumstances upon which a modification of an existing order may be granted. However, the difference between the existing monthly obligation and the amount provided for under the guidelines shall be at least 15 percent or $50, whichever amount is greater, before the court may find that the guidelines provide a substantial change in circumstances

go to this website it says the rules and has the forms so you can calculate what the support shoudl be:
http://www.state.fl.us/dor/childsupport/guidlines.html

hope this helps.

Good luck
:-)

[PalomaChavez]

Thank you so much for the advice,it has really been of great help

[wendl]

glad I could help. My dh had his cs modified when he was laid off work he lost over 1,000 a month in income and could barely make his support payment. The funniest thing I ever say was the look on bm face. W

What happened was her arguement to the commissioner was "well he can get a job" (lmao he couldn't due to the industry) commissioner asked bm why she wasn't working and only bringing in $200 a month, bms response "I am a fulltime student" commissioner said " to bad you need to get a job and cs will be reduced by $150 a month" bm walked out of the room crying omg heaven forbid she work and support her children.

Good luck, let me know how it turns out.

:)

[PalomaChavez]

So I was talking to my husband again about the Child Support and he told me that when he lost his job back in October 2003 he called Child Support in Florida and talked with his case worker about changing his CS since he was unemployed and couldnt continue sending the same amount. That is when his case worker told him that she couldnt make any changes because his case was new, that he had to wait at least three years to get the modification.

He collected unemployment while he wasn't working and he told his case worker that sometimes it was really difficult to send the amount he had to ,so she just told him to send whatever he could until he found another job. And she also told him that he couldnt just find a job that paid less just so he could send less Child Support. So she told him that he had to find a job that would pay almost the same amount as the previous one.

My husband explain to her that it wouldnt be so easy because he had worked at his lost job for about five years thats how he got to the positon and the salary he was making. So the lady told him that she didnt care  that he still had to find a way.
I asked my husband if he could change maybe his case worker since she obiously is not doing a really good job but he said that he couldnt because of the way they do it. I guess every case worker gets their clients by ther first letter of their last name.Any advice?  

[wendl]

Case workers rarely do anything for the paying parent.  I am a stepmom and a cp.

What you need to do is go thru the courts, the cs office is sooo slow and passes the buck anytime they can, or you can continue to call the case workers supervisor. I have had some really bad caseworkers and a few really good ones.

If you file a modification thru the courts its usually quicker and easier than dealing with the cs off that could care less.

Good luck

[oklahoma]

This is really no help, but I just want to comment on the caseworker's statement that you can't take a lower paying job so that your CS is reduced.  I keep hearing that argument and it just irks me.  Does no one think that if a person takes a lower paying job that he or she is also not getting as much money?  There may be cases where that may be a valid argument--when NCP has a spouse that provides primary income for the family.  But I'd be willing to bet they are few and far between.

In our case, I would LOVE it if my husband actually had the income that CSE "expects" him to have, and upon which they base his ordered CS.  My husband's income was reduced for several reasons--some personal choice, some not circumstances beyond our control--but never once did we say, "Let's live below poverty level so that we have to pay less child support!"

[kiddosmom]

In our case:
We got custody after bm put sd in danger of a child molester.
She stated at that time, in court, that she "would not pay child support ever!"
Less then a month later she "loses" her job, now she thinks that because she in unemployed the court will grant no cs. Thus, it has been several months and not a penny. We are waiting for this to go to court. She still has not found a job (according to her), from what we can tell she has already lost her vehichle.
We even offered to lower the cs to half what it was set at if she would settle the case. She refused, not because she was not happy with the amount of time she had with her dtr, but because she refuses to pay cs for her dtr.

[PalomaChavez]

I know I couldn't believe it when my husband told me what his case worker told him, Its sad that they do this, its like you can't expect any help from them. I am trying to help my husband with this because I know that Child Support wont do it. I have been searching for information over the internet and I found out in the Florida  webpage a lot of information that CS wont even offer it to you. I did find out that it is true,you have to wait at least three years since the child support has been started for them to review your case unless (and they failed to tell him this part) there has been  a significant change in circumstances.  I think that his situation qualifies. After we send the paperwork we will still have to wait at least six months. We have to do a lot of changes because of everything Child Support told him. Hopefully good things will come after all of this.