Expert Advice When You Need It Most

I have a question about changing child custody agreement and non-custodial parent claiming child on taxes.

Asked over 2 years ago - Fresno, CA

My fiance divorced 2 years ago accepting whatever his ex wife decided upon in there child custody agreement due to lack of money to fight it and job conflict that would not allow him to make court appearances. He is more stable and now looking for gaining more rights to be able to see his son. Since March 2009, he informed his ex-wife that he dating me and at the same time the child support was lowered from about 1200/month to 600/month. The ex-wife who was still begging him to return to her was angry that he was dating someone and that the child support was lowered and has since not allowed him to speak to his child over the phone. He is looking for a judgement that states when he is allowed to speak to and see his child as well as claiming his child on taxes.

Additional information
Also we reside out of state and the child resides in Fresno,CA. He is looking for specified days when he can speak to the child, a couple of weeks out of the year where he can have the child(noting who pays for the transportation), would like to claim him as a dependent on his taxes, and change the original judgement from minimal supervised visits to unsupervised visits. If this matters, upon him informing her of his wishes to divorce the ex, she took many pills in an attempt at suicide. A report was taken, but she in turn made a report against him of alleging that it was because of the things he said to her it made her attempt suicide. I believe he called it "terrorist threats". We dont have any laws like that here...i've never heard of trying to charge someone with a crime for making their spouse want to kill themselves???? No charges were sustained.
Save

Attorney answers (2)

Reputation Level 18
Answered over 2 years ago. Child Custody Lawyer in Los Angeles, CA.
1. If he wants a more specific custody/visitation order, he can either negotiate it with his ex, and have the agreed change made into a new order, or he can file a request to have the custody and visitation orders modified to make them more specific, go to a hearing, and ask the judge to make the orders more specific.

2. Unless the judgment includes an agreement that the dependency exemption gets shifted under certain conditions, whoever has the child in her/his custody 50.1% of the time in a given year is entitled to take the dependency exemption for the child. Generally a court will allow the parties to trade off a higher support order for a dependency-exemption shift, if the effect is to put more net dollars in BOTH parents' pockets.
Mark as good answer
1 person marked this answer as good
Add comment

Reputation Level 9
Answered about 2 years ago. Divorce / Separation Lawyer in San Francisco, CA.
Your fiance can seek a more specific order by asking the court to order it if he cannot negotiate a better arrangement. Depending on the age of the chlid, many judges will allow several phone calls a week if the distance is great. If direct negotiations do not acheive the desired result, you may try a mediator if the ex wife will agree. Otherwise, the most effective vehicle would be seek a court order modifying the decree. The child dependency exemption normally is available to the parent with more than 50% custody time, but the parties by agreement or court order can assign the exemption to the other spouse. You may want to get a consultation with an attorney to see which alternative leads to the most net spendable income for both parties after child support is paid.
Add comment

Related Questions

1

Attorney answers:

Jonathan A Millet
I have a question about custody and parenting time

Asked by a user in Prescott Valley, AZ - over 2 years ago.

Tags: Child Custody Family

1

Attorney answers:

Cathy Ann Wagner
I have a question about the custody of a child.

Asked by a user in Winona, MN - over 2 years ago.

Tags: Child Custody Family

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask a Lawyer

Get free answers from experienced attorneys.

 
Ask now

Find Defective & Dangerous Products Lawyers