Hopefully a quick question

[FLMom]

State of Florida.

History:

In 2004 I took ex to court re: custody and visitation, and ex countered for CS. Prior to hearing any evidence and after a very poor mediation attempt, Judge told both parties to take a few moments and see if they could hammer out an agreement without his guidance. Quote: "I guarantee that you both will like what you work out better than what I come up with".

Agreements were made and entered into the court records. Both parents have abided by those agreements with relatively few glitches. I began paying CS, and my visitation changed from EOW to 45% of the year.

Early next year I will be taking the ex back to court re: CS. Per state guidelines, ex will now be the one to have to pay CS .

I have a few ideas in lieu of CS payments, such as tax exemptions and what our kids really want, which is having no "primary" and changing the agreement to true joint custody. It is truly not necessary for ex to pay me CS on a monthly basis, however it is causing difficulties for me to continue paying him.

I realize that this a mixing apples and oranges. I feel that the few problems that we do have, and what bothers our children, is that the playing field is not level, and if there were no primary and strictly joint we could all breathe a lot easier.

I know that we will again have to go through mediation, and I would like to offer alternatives during this mediation so that we could possibly avoid a court hearing.

Question:

1) Would suggesting a change of custody and of tax exemptions instead of receiving child support be considered a form of blackmail?

Thank you for your time Soc,
FLMom

[socrateaser]

>Question:
>
>1) Would suggesting a change of custody and of tax exemptions
>instead of receiving child support be considered a form of
>blackmail?

Blackmail (extortion) is causing another person to act or forebear from action in a manner that they would not otherwise be legally obligated to do by means of fear or intimidation. Offering to forego child support in exchange for a tax benefit is not extortion, because the other party is free to say no, without fear or intimidation that they may be forced to do something that they are legally obligated to do.

So, just don't lie or threaten, during your negotiations and you'll be on firm ground. If you are entitled to child support, then you're not lying or threatening that you will ask the court to give you what you're entitled to -- you're offering to give up your entitlement in return for the other party giving up their's.