Child support modificatin

[illogical]

I really doubted that she got fired for the following reason "obviously speculating"
1.  She worked at this very reputable company for 27 years
2.  Her current husband (The person she had an affair with) is a high level director
3.  I have email communication that goes back to 9 months ago alerting me that she is thinking of retirement
4.  about 8 months ago, her husband wrote another email to tell me " I cant wait for her to retire so you are forced to pay 3K/month, and that would be the first your took care of your kids"
5.  I pay $1000 currently and somehow her husband calculated based on her work status I would have to pay 3K
6.  I am guessing she accepted the early retirement package that included severance and that is exactly why she  does want to show any documentation
7.  You really have be blatantly negligent to get fired for a corp. company that you have worked for 27 years

[illogical]

My court date is next Monday.  Speaking to attorney he believes that the judge will set a trial,date since my Ex. Has no proof and no detail explanation as to why she lost her job.

I am wondering why wouldn't the court make a judgment of no change in CS since there is no major drastic circumstance that requires that we should go to trial. 

Wouldn't the jugde ask my Ex to explain what were the details around Losing a job? 
Would the judge require some type of documentation before upholding or modifying the order?

[ocean]

You will probably have a short hearing and the judge will ask a few questions and see if she has documentation to share with the court/you. Your lawyer can even ask her while you are waiting to see if she brought anything. Does ex have lawyer? Sometimes that is easier ...then you do not have to deal with her and a lawyer tells her what she has to do.

At end of hearing, just will say, you must bring xyz to next date and give to other party. At next date (could be another hearing or go straight to trial) she will be given an opportunity to give details of why she needs an upwards modification, using her proof. Your lawyer can counter her with questions regarding the circumstances of her job loss. Some places make you go through a few hearings first to see if you can settle without a trial. Just tell your lawyer to ask for it to go to trial next time so you are not paying for all these hearings....If you want to save money, you can go to this hearing yourself, see what she has, ask for trial date and pay for lawyer for that date only.

Family court has NO common sense.

[illogical]

Thank you Ocean, I love your wisdom and valuable comments.  Your statement about family court is right on.

She does not have a lawyer, I have hired an inexperience attorney who is fresh out of law school but has done a few family court cases and has done his homework.  He charges me $150/hr and he is very reasonable and we know each others family well.

For this hearing my attorney will go with me but if there are subsequent ones before the trail I will appear on my own.

Just to clarify, I will have no problem paying more, I just know my Ex. deceptive and dishonest tactics.   I also want to be prepared and whatever happens as long I am prepared to defend my position, all is good.

[ocean]

Your lawyer can have a dismissal ready to go and depending on what evidence she has, lawyer can ask for it to be dismissed as she does not have proof of change in income /change in circumstance.

Your lawyer can go up to her without you in waiting room and talk and see what she has before you go in. Many people work longer if they have younger kids. Does she have plans on collecting AND getting another job since she is capable of a job? You can prove that she is collecting xxx and then can get a job even min wage for xxx for a total of xxx. Or she could have kept working for xx. There is always that option for your lawyer to say to her "hey, can not afford kids, he can , we can go for a change of custody if you are saying you can not feed them" LOL

[illogical]

Unfortunately, the Judge Did not ask her anything about the circumstance of her losing her job.  When my lawyer asked for proof, my Ex flash a paper with one line.  She insisted that she was fired from her high paying job after27 years.  She claimed she had received one unemployment check in the past 4 month and then the checks stopped. The Jugge run the number based on her incorrect income and exp. filling.   
Based on all this another hearing was set for 3 wks out and the Judge ordered her to submit correct Filling of income and exp.  she had omitted a number of income that we called her on.

I would love some help in the following:
1.  How would I convience the judge for an order to understand circumstance that lead to her losing her job.
2.  I am still convienced that she got early retirement but it appeared it did not matter for the Judge.  Based on her statements and mine my child support would go up 2K starting April 1 once the judge has a chance to review her corrected income and exp form.

3.  The Judge stated that 3 month is not sufficient for her to find another high skill, high paying Job.  How much time is reasonable for an engineer with an MBA?
4.  Let's assume she does not get a job close to what she was making, let's assume it is 50% of what she used to make.  What would the judge use for her income, 50% of earning capacity?
5.  I am thinking of representing myself on the next hearing, I feel with me doing the research and knowing her I call her BS and argue my case
6.  I am thinking of achieving all the related open position for the next court date

7.  How can I legally obtain HR employee files related to her leaving.  I just want to know if truly she was fired

Please send your comments

[MixedBag]

I think since another hearing was set for 3 weeks down the road.....that's a good sign.

Talk to your attorney about being more "aggressive" in court -- maybe there's a strategy in dealing with your judge that your attorney has experience with because he's in front of the judge all the time that you're not aware of?

I'm not an attorney, but I'm thinking that many of the documents you want to see need to be supboena'd by your attorney in order to add them in as evidence that she's lying.

[illogical]

Thank you for your response. 
I am strongly considering representing myself, I was not too happy that my attorney did not make a huge case for seeing her documents.  And if I have to 3K every month I wna t to set a reasonable time frame for that giving her the opportunity to find a job. 

I found the experience alarming since all Judge wanted to domes run the numbers.  The Judge has given her an oppertunity to correct her mistakes in the income and exp. form before giving a final CS amount (2800-3200).

Here is a question:
Can family court judge give an order to seek employment records that led to her firing?
Will I need to go to other judges to get a subpoena order?

[Kitty C.]

Your atty. has to file a subpoena for that documentation, since it's YOUR side who is requesting them.  Judges don't do that, as far as I know.

[illogical]

I was able to find out through a mutual friend that she indeed got fired.
She worked at Solar Turbines, a great company that you work there for life. Apparently there were multiple layers of complains, disregard for her manger, disrespect of coworkers and etc and precisely why she would change depart every few years.
I also found out based on the number of ys at the company there is a monthly Pension which was also ommitted in the income and exp form
I also found out during the 4 months she was fired she only received one unemoyme check and then an immediate stop on future checks (her statements at the court)
I also found out she had income from 3 rental properties that were also not disclosed in the income and exp. Form

8 years ago when I got divorce she has 900K in home mortgage, in her incom and exp. She showed that her mortgage payment is 259$.  Question is where did she get the funds?
It clear that because her husband makes over 220K per year, hardly any mortgage, income from rental, inheritance and monthly pension plus child support she did not want to be at work and her relationship with her boss was extremely combative.

Major question:  how do I convince the Judge to grant Subpenea for HR documents?
The Judge was truly not interested in hearing any reason or circumstances that led to her termination?
How do I make sure to convince the judge that these information are important ?