My ex and I have been divorced since Feb 2007. Our divorce agreement says we have to split visitation during summer and school vacations 50/50. He has never taken them during ANY vacation. I am now working and if he doesn't take them this summer for his time, I will have to put them in daycare 2 days a week. I looked into it and the fee is $216 for 3 kids 2 days a week. I cannot afford that.

Our child support is based on me having no daycare fees. He works a rotating schedule of 24 hour shifts, 2 days a week. So, that leaves him 5 days free. He has the time to take them, but says his time off is HIS time.

If he refuses to take them and I am forced to pay daycare, is it possible to petition the court for a temporary increase in CS? Just a note, the divorce agreement says he pays 50% of all uninsured medical expenses as well as 50% of activity fees. He refused to pay for a year and I took him to court. The judge ordered him to repay me the $1500 he owed me. So, he has a history of not following the agreement.

I am willing to work around his schedule and he is just unreasonable. I also go to school at night and already pay for a sitter on those nights. We are in MA. Any suggestions?

Tell him his time being so valuable to him he can either pay the day care or you will take him back to court over it.

Just curious: are you getting the dependency exemption for all three kids? Are you getting the additional child credit for them ($500 per each under 16 years of age, I believe)? There may also be a tax credit for child care expense to look at, so do not compare apples to oranges too fast. To the extend that his obligation to pay child support is less because of the "split visitation" which he is not using, you should be able to get an increase in support. Keep in mind that child support is generally based on his ability to pay; if his income has not increased, you may be out of luck.

Also on that note of daycare. If you require it because of your job then so long as the amount is reasonable then he is liable for 1/2 the expense regardless of his status on the visitation issue.

My ex and I have been divorced since Feb 2007. Our divorce agreement says we have to split visitation during summer and school vacations 50/50. He has never taken them during ANY vacation. I am now working and if he doesn't take them this summer for his time, I will have to put them in daycare 2 days a week. I looked into it and the fee is $216 for 3 kids 2 days a week. I cannot afford that.

Our child support is based on me having no daycare fees. He works a rotating schedule of 24 hour shifts, 2 days a week. So, that leaves him 5 days free. He has the time to take them, but says his time off is HIS time.

If he refuses to take them and I am forced to pay daycare, is it possible to petition the court for a temporary increase in CS? Just a note, the divorce agreement says he pays 50% of all uninsured medical expenses as well as 50% of activity fees. He refused to pay for a year and I took him to court. The judge ordered him to repay me the $1500 he owed me. So, he has a history of not following the agreement.

I am willing to work around his schedule and he is just unreasonable. I also go to school at night and already pay for a sitter on those nights. We are in MA. Any suggestions?


I would go back to Court and get an Order now before summer vacation starts. You can always apply for modification if you feel you have good reason and then let the Court decide.

You can always seek a modification of the child support order. If he is not adhering to his scheduled visitation and as a result causes you additional expense such as daycare then you can ask the court to order him to pay a certain portion of that.

I think you should go to court and ask for a change in the custody schedule based on how much he actually has them and a corresponding increase in child support. Does he take them at all over the course of a year? Or are they with you full time?

You will need to be able to document the time they are with you as much as possible in case your ex should decide to lie or exaggerate how much time he takes the children. Photos of the children on particular vacations would help. If you can't document that, you should start recording all the time he misses and taking pictures of the kids with you during those times.