c/s ugh

[Mamacass]

Quick question, if anyone knows.  BM lives with her parents.  Now we got custody 6 months ago and have just filed for CS.  I have a feeling she's going to lie on her paperwork to get out of paying money.  

Right now she gets disability but doesn't have any household expenses that we know of since she move back in to her parents house.  If she claims to pay rent, is there some way to make her prove that she has to pay rent there?  Do her parents have to claim the rent $ on their taxes?

We don't want to be petty, but when it comes to child support we've been screwed harshly in the past and we will be paying for that for years to come.  I just want to make sure we've put ourselves in the best position to make sure my SS has everything he deserves, (even if most of it ends up in his savings account for when he turns 18).

[Jade]

>Quick question, if anyone knows.  BM lives with her parents.
>Now we got custody 6 months ago and have just filed for CS.  I
>have a feeling she's going to lie on her paperwork to get out
>of paying money.  
>
>Right now she gets disability but doesn't have any household
>expenses that we know of since she move back in to her parents
>house.  If she claims to pay rent, is there some way to make
>her prove that she has to pay rent there?  Do her parents have
>to claim the rent $ on their taxes?
>
>We don't want to be petty, but when it comes to child support
>we've been screwed harshly in the past and we will be paying
>for that for years to come.  I just want to make sure we've
>put ourselves in the best position to make sure my SS has
>everything he deserves, (even if most of it ends up in his
>savings account for when he turns 18).

I would look into the child support guidelines in your state.  In my state, expenses (of either party) aren't taken into consideration at all when computing child support.  It is based on net income after taxes only.  And the court has a program that automatically determines what the tax withholdings are so that the net income can't be lowered by increasing your tax withholding.  

[Ref]

Chances are rent will not be considered. If by a small chance it is, I imagine it would be difficult to prove that she isn't required to pay rent. I would look in the paper for similar rooms for rent and expect that that would be a reasonable rate.

I think Jade is right that it probably wont be considered.

Ref

[MixedBag]

I agree with the other two.  Haad a BM who lived with her parents too for a while, rent free, and that didn't matter.  And yes, at the time, we too were upset that "it didn't matter"......

NEITHER parent's household expenses will be taken into consideration when determining CS.

Some states use net, some use gross (like AL).

The other thought that comes to mind is that if one parent receives disability income (I'm assuming Social Security Disability), then doesn't that entitle the child to a payment as well from Social Security?

And then THAT gets counted towards the NCP's child support liability.

[rainbow1]

 If BM is getting SSD the children are entitled to payments of their own which should be going to the custodial parent. Your local SS office should be able to help you find out. If BM is getting their checks give the SS office a copy of the custody order, they will redirect the checks.        Rent paid should not make a difference, but you never know. You might want to inform BM and her parents that if BM claims rent is being paid to get a CS reduction, that once it is in the court record the IRS will be informed as it should show up as rental income on BM's parents tax returns. If they did not claim the income and pay taxes on it they could pay interest and penalties plus the extra tax due, plus be audited several years back and over the next few years.

[mistoffolees]

> If BM is getting SSD the children are entitled to payments
>of their own which should be going to the custodial parent.


Are you sure about that? It seems odd that the non-custodial parent's disability would allow the child to receive payments - even though they're not living with NCP.

Seems strange - but many things about SS don't make sense, so it could be true.

[lucky]

Yes, this is true.  My dd received payments when her dad was disabled and I was CP.

Basically, all children are entitled to an equal share of the dependent's benefits of the disabled person no matter who has custody.

[em]Lucky

Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.
- Will Rogers[em]

[mistoffolees]

OK. Thanks for the info.

[cathy]

We recently learned that the girls' BM was approved for disability.  My husband has an appointment at the Social Security Administration to set up payments and get it assigned to him for the girls.

No idea how much it will be or anything.  We also have a court date March 15th because she filed a motion to modify almost a year ago (have gone to court several times cause she first said she was sick but didn't bring any documentation, then had the documentation and had only applied for disability, on and on and on.  We aren't planning on even going to court on March 15 and have told our lawyer not to bother going either.  But for some reason, she (lawyer) seems to want to go.)

From what I can find, BM's disability is considered as income when determining CS, but any money that SSA pays to the kids will be deducted from her CS responsibility -- which probably means she won't have to pay anything herself.

[HelpingHands]

You may want to deal with the SS office to apply for benefits on behalf of the child.

In our case, BM's disability status was determined before she had enough work credits in(she was 20 or 21). Thus, no monetary payments to the child. She's receiving the maximum she can and there's not enough left to pay the child our of her benefits. That's what SSA said. Doesn't make ANY sense to me.

I will be filing for a  child support modification soon based on my lower income than the judge 'computed' in the 'order'. She wasn't ordered to pay ANY support.