My child’s father is trying to get out of paying the court ordered child support and is taking me back to court to contest it.
The court ordered him to pay $1,044 a month. He is now saying he is unemployed but he works for the oil refinery and they are always on and off or work. He makes $6,000-$8,000 a month while working. Me on the other hand i am a stay at home mom and will do some self employment sometimes but not much. He claims he has two other children to take care of. Should I be worried that the judge might lower payments? He only gets our daughter every other weekend and some holidays so she’s with me majority of the time. The judge told him the amount is based off of the amount of time the child is with the parent and his overall income but he doesn’t understand that.
You are not permitted to stay at home and not provide financially for your child. Both parents are responsible to pay and you will be imputed at your last wages or at full-time minimum wage, whichever is higher. The court will use his year-to-date income. The amount may end up being reduced, which is fine because the system takes many things into consideration. Also, the laws changed considerably on September 1, 2024, so you may end up with a reduction. Also, if he is making 6,000, that is gross, before taxes, insurance, union dues...that is not his net. If he is supporting other children that will be considered.
Dawn M. Saenz is licensed to practice law in the State of California and the California Supreme Court, and cannot give advice about the laws of other jurisdictions. All comments on this site are intended for informational purposes only, and are not intended to constitute legal advice, create an attorney-client relationship, or solicit business. No posts or comments on this site are in any way confidential. Each case is unique. Information not contained in these posts may create significant exceptions to the advice provided in any response. You are advised to have counsel at all stages of any legal proceeding, and to speak with your own lawyer in private to get advice about your specific situation.
So he should request that you be imputed some form of income. Being a stay at home parent for one child, in school, is not adequate. You can work. If he is temporarily unemployed, you can request that each party file updated FL-150’s every three months, to reflect any changes in income. If his reflects employment, you can also seek modification. Similarly, because you should also be working, he can seek modification if your employment situation changes (as it should, no person should rightfully be wholly dependent upon support, government or child/spousal) and that can be grounds for modification, as well. In short, if his O&G job has laid him off, so be it, you’ll have to get a job yourself, or seek to allow him greater custodial time, thereby reducing your need (sorry, it’s not “your” need - child support belongs to the child) and increasing the time the child benefits from having each parent actively in his/her life. It’s a win-win.
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