X-posted...modifications needed?.. Opinions please.

[Modifymenow]

Not sure if this is the right forum to post this. 

I have been tracking overnights for over 2 years now and have had my children over 40% of the time for both years.  This is a significant change to the parenting plan agreed upon in the divorce. 
I mentioned to my ex that we need to discuss the fact that I have the kids more than agreed upon and that I want to keep seeing them as much as possible but we need to discuss modifying child support to reflect the changes. 
This did not go over well and now she if denying me the extra nights I was getting to spend with the kids. 
She claims I was just taking them to get a reduction in CS.  This is ridiculous because I want to spend as much time as possible with them, and she has had no problem with that until now, with the mention of money.

My question to all of you is what kind of chance would I have for joint custody, or at least having the parenting plan adjusted to reflect the status quo of extra nights (40+% overnights) thus reducing child support. 

I am afraid a judge will not care and I will end up with needing to adhere to original parenting plan and rarely get tosee my kids.

Thank you.c

[tigger]

You went in the wrong order.  You should have requested getting the order updated to reflect the status quo schedule (the extra overnights) and then gotten CS reduced.

[Modifymenow]

Well we have not done anything official yet... Is this your recommendation when we speak to an attorney ?

[tigger]

You spoke to the ex regarding changing CS before you spoke with her about changing the order to reflect reality. That's where the wrong order came into play.

I think you'd have to get custody times changed on paper before CS would change (although my judge didn't wait since I admitted that the child had changed residences.)

[Modifymenow]

Yes, for some reason I thought she would be reasonable about the facts of the matter and coming to an agreement before going to court.  Wrong move. 

I talked briefly to a attorney on the phone and he seemed to think getting the change in visitation that the child support would be adjusted accordingly.

[MixedBag]

What's she's trying to say is that you should have never mentioned child support to your EX period.

Go ahead and file for a modification to reflect the common practice over the last two years.

NORMALLY -- even if you don't ASK, Child support will be adjusted by the judge.

EX showed her true colors -- sorta -- because you mentioned a drop in her income.

I say sorta -- because if she said something opposite -- like "You got a raise, and I want more CS" that would potentially be upsetting to you too.

As a recipient of CS, I planned our family's budget around that.   And as the kids emancipated, my family budget had to adjust.  On the flip side -- if I had made a commitment (like signed a contract to buy something), based on receiving XXX amount of Child Support -- and now that income was gonna go away....

Just plain think about it, k?

File for the time, leave the CS to work itself out.

And if the court doesn't adjust CS, file for that afterwards and to back once the new order can't be appealed.