Child Support Reduction Question

[gwodzisz]

Hi Socrateaser,

Background:

State of Ohio

I have an 8 year old daughter with my ex girlfriend.  I am now married with a 7 month old son.  I have agreed to a voluntary lay off with my current employer of 7 years.  My wife has a great paying job and I would like to spend some time with my new son while on unemployment.  My ex works about 50 hours per week and goes to school 20 hours per week.  My daughter has told me she stays at the babysitter's all week without seeing her mom at all.  I pay $480/month support for my daughter and am considering sending a reduction request to the CSEA when the lay off occurs.  I don't want to increase my child support obligation and if they take my wife's income into consideration, it will increase my support payment.  In the past, my ex has used an attorney to deal with anything that happens between us and I am sure she will get him involved if I file for the reduction.  The mediation will probably get drawn out for a long time - it was over a year last time when I filed a motion for contempt against her for not letting me see my daughter.

Question 1:  If I file for the reduction, will they look at my wife's salary in determining the amount of child support?

Question 2:  If they will look at her income, do I even need to file with CSEA or just have unemployment take the child support payments from my unemployment check?

Question 3:  Do the court's really look at the 'best interest of the child' - meaning it would seem to be better for my daughter to stay with me during the week?

[socrateaser]

>Question 1:  If I file for the reduction, will they look at my
>wife's salary in determining the amount of child support?

If by "voluntary layoff" you mean that you were given the option of a superior severance package in exchange for your voluntarily quiting your job, as opposed to being involuntarily laid off, and you can prove that but for your accepting the package you would have been laid off, then your spouse's income will almost certainly not be taken into consideration.

If you are just characterizing your quiting as a voluntary layoff, then the court could impute income to you based upon your spouse's income, because you are living off her and hiding behind her income.

>
>Question 2:  If they will look at her income, do I even need
>to file with CSEA or just have unemployment take the child
>support payments from my unemployment check?

I don't know what Ohio law requires with respect to notice of unemployment. Generally, CSEA will not attempt to have the court impute income, because it requires litigation skills to prove and they won't want to spend the time or money. They will just impute your earning capacity based upon minimum wage.

It's up to you whether you want to file. If you don't then you owe the support at the same rate as you did when you were working, until you file for a modification.

>
>Question 3:  Do the court's really look at the 'best interest
>of the child' - meaning it would seem to be better for my
>daughter to stay with me during the week?

The courts consider the child's best interests. Unfortunately the standard is frequently ambiguous and unmeasurable in advance, and so difficult to apply to the facts of the case. It's up to you to make a case for caring for the child while not working. This is not an action that you can bring via CSEA, because they will only deal with support issues, and your issue is for a change of custody/visitation.

[gwodzisz]

One other question:

Can my ex refuse to accept what CSEA determines as the child support amount and get an attorney to force an additional child support amount based on my wife's income?

[socrateaser]

>One other question:
>
>Can my ex refuse to accept what CSEA determines as the child
>support amount and get an attorney to force an additional
>child support amount based on my wife's income?

Yes.