[*]a "Motion of Modification" was sent to mother without the help of an attorney. (I printed papers from the web and sent to her.) She had 30 days to return and never did, I am assuming because it was just from me and not an attorney. Anyway, she turned around and served me with the same papers (through her attorney). What next?[/LIST]

• In a child support matter, does the mother's income (if any), taken into account on the amount paid by the father?
  
• What if mother claims to not be working, but really is?

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Thanks for the help.

In most of the cases I have dealt with, no her income has no bearoing on what you pay for the children's child support, it is a percent of your income so your income is the one that matters, it may look bad on her to lie, but would not have an effect on what you are required to pay.

If your income has increased and you are no served, odds are you will have to go back and start paying more child support.

** don't try legal moves without an attorney if you don't know the law on it, This one most likely iscomming back to bite you

The actual mathematics involved in calculating child support payments are rather complex and technically include both parents' incomes (or lack thereof)but boil down to the non-custodial parent paying a portion of his/her income. If you make $50,000 a year and you are the non-custodial parent, then you're going to pay a certain dollar amount in child support, period, the specific amount depending on the guidelines established by your state. In my state, a rough guess for someone earning $50,000 per year would be about $165 per week. As for getting a support order modified, there has to be a recognized "change in circumstances" that the petitioner can prove, before a support amount can be raised or lowered. If mother just recently lost her job, that in and of itself shouldn't compel the court to raise your support amount, unless your income has gone up substantially since the order was established. It should compel the judge to tell her to get off her butt and find another job! Now, if you just recently lost your job, your should be able to get the support order lowered, at least temporarily, to allow you time to find a new job for yourself. It really doesn't add up that both parties would simultaneously petition the court for a modification of the child support order. If you're the one who initially filed, it doesn't make sense that her lawyer would counter with a motion of his own. If you cannot demonstrate a significant change in circumstances then your petition has no merit whatsoever. Same goes for mom ; if she can't demonstrate a significant change in circumstances then her petition has no merit whatsoever. If you have evidence that mom is working "under the table" and not reporting her income, it certainly won't hurt your case to bring that up in front of the judge.