Does new kid lead to lower CS?

[stepmom2morgan]

I've had people tell me that since DH and I recently had a baby that he can get his CS lowered b/c now he has to support our DS too.  Any truth to that?  Our finances are really tight now and my DS doesn't have his own bedroom cuz we can't find a decent 3 bedroom home to buy that would fit the budget forced on us by the CS.  Everybody DH works with who also have to pay CS think we're paying too much as it is.

Best Wishes,
stepmom2morgan

[jilly]

Yes...you can get a "credit" on the worksheet for a dependent child living in the home. Not sure in what State you live. You can always try one of the child support calculators for your State and see how it comes out. If it will lower your payments then your DH should file for a modification. However, there's no guarantee that a Judge will see it that way and your DH may end up with an increase. Bizarre, I know, but that's how it goes sometimes.

[stepmom2morgan]

I live in Ohio.  Where do I find a child support calculator?

Best Wishes,
stepmom2morgan

[KAT]

You can find calculators here: http://www.supportguidelines.com/main.html
Hopefully you'll find that your new baby (congrats!!) is worth more then the $10 a month they gave us in consideration for our son. (on a 2,220 per month support obligation for 1 mind you).
Since you are considering going back, do read the guidelines & investigate other options for lowering the amount that you might not have known about before. Such as if your husband has student loans (which enable him to provide extra income), tax deduction if you don't already have it & perhaps motioning to have the CP parent responsible for the first amount of non paid medical bills per year (if not already in the order, say 250.).
GOOD LUCK! If you get a chance, I'd be interested in finding out just how much it would be lowered. I'm in VA which isn't much different from OH.
:)
KAT

[joni]

we pay $1200/month in CS for one child.  when we had our own son,  we got a $13.75 per month decrease in CS.  so...the common sense question is....why do we have to support one child for $1200/mo and ours gets support of $13.75????

wait....and it gets better....the difference between supporting one child and two children for child support is a 50% increase.  For example, in Michigan, you make $1800/month, you pay $487/mo in child support for one child.  If you had two children, you would have to pay $738.  BUT...if you have another child with your new wife...you only get a $53 credit for that child.

so, don't count on buying that custom home.

[reagantrooper]

Damn!

Its not about supporting the kids! It's about X support and federal funds for the state.

THAT IT!

SO we must:
PAY PAY PAY AND KEEP ON PAYING!

Bound by state sposered servitude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MixedBag]

Depends on the Judge....

But put the shoe on the other foot.....if the CP had more children and got the credit, that would make your CS go UP....

Is THAT fair?

Think about this before you act.

I too am an NCP and a CP....  And my CP actually came here and hinted that they were gonna have another baby and then my CS should go up.

[stepmom2morgan]

Mixed,

I do see your point but when my son is having to sleep in my room cuz we can't afford a place with a 3rd bedroom.....something is off-balance!
And meanwhile BM is preggo with her 3rd child (on purpose), has two nice vehicles, an RV, and owns her 3 bedroom house.  Hmmmmmm.

Best Wishes,
stepmom2morgan (I used to be SLP)

[purrrfectgirl]

I'm from Ohio.  I have actually set up an excel spreadsheet that includes most all factors used in Ohio CS cases.  If you would like a copy you can email me at [email protected] and I can email it to you.  A lot of the online calculators are just basic calculators and don't include a lot of the extra line items.  Let me know.  DH and I got very familiar with the CS laws when he went pro se one time.  That's when I made the spreadsheet.  I use it in court and if the judges calculations vary from mine alot, we always ask why.  Actually got the judge's calculated amount down once because he put in a number wrong.  It's helpful!

[oklahoma]

I plugged the numbers in our state CS calculator and the difference of paying support for one child v. two children was $1.  Also, when we had our second child, we were credited $1.  Go figure....