Ask Me Help Desk - Should I go back?

Should I go back?

Hello. I knew I would eventually end up asking a question here on this board :P

About 4 years ago, my daughters biological father and I went to 'mediation' (in arizona) and did all the paperwork on child support. No custody issues, as he wants nothing to do with her. He WANTED to simply sign his rights away, which isn't allowed :P sucks to be him huh?

After all the paperwork and worksheets and questions were done, he pays me 157.80 a month in weekly installments.
This was deturmined with me working full time at minimum wage, and him working full time at minimum wage.

I am wondering if I should go back and have it recalculated to see if I can get more (im not being greedy or vindictive, bills are simply piling up, and if he can afford it, the extra help would be nice, since he hasn't even ASKED about her in the last 5 years)

What I am curious about is whether my husbands income is taken into the calculations if I were to go back? I am not working right now. But my husband is.

Thank you :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenniepepsi

hello. i knew i would eventually end up asking a question here on this board :P

about 4 years ago, my daughters biological father and i went to 'mediation' (in arizona) and did all the paperwork on child support. no custody issues, as he wants nothign to do with her. he WANTED to simply sign his rights away, which isnt allowed :P sucks to be him huh?

after all the paperwork and worksheets and questions were done, he pays me 157.80 a month in weekly installments.
this was deturmined with me working full time at minimum wage, and him working full time at minimum wage.

i am wondering if i should go back and have it recalculated to see if i can get more (im not being greedy or vindictive, bills are simply piling up, and if he can afford it, the extra help would be nice, since he hasnt even ASKED about her in the last 5 years)

what i am curious about is whether or not my husbands income is taken into the calculations if i were to go back? i am not working right now. but my husband is.

thank you :)

The answer is maybe. Because your not working then some amout would have to be impuned to you. And in some states they may consider your spouses income minus 1/2. Its not the norm but laws are changing daily. Do you know if your ex is making more then minimum wage ?

I wish I knew. I haven't heard anything from him lately. In all accuality he could be dead for all I know. I have no idea. Ill have to go look up az law and see if they take spouse income into consideration.

I hope this works, but I think I found it. Here. Thank you for your help califdadof3 :)
http://www.supreme.state.az.us/dr/childsup/csg2004.pdf

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenniepepsi

i wish i knew. i havnt heared anything from him lately. in all accuality he could be dead for all i know. i have no idea. ill have to go look up az law and see if they take spouse income into consideration.

Well Im going to lay out some hard truth right now. In this economy it wouldn't surprise me if he were laid off. And you would know if he were dead because the payments would stop. You might be better off waiting until next year when the economy might look better. Most courts don't like to do adjustments without extreme circumstances and closer then every 2 years. It may be your right to ask for ones more often but it tends to be frowned upon if there haven't been any large changes.

Yeah good point. Yes the payments have stopped. But your right, this could also mean he has no job right?

Is that file I posted up there the right one? I can't see it yet cause I'm still downloading adobereader (its taking forever)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenniepepsi

is that file i posted up there the right one? i can't see it yet cause im still downloading adobereader (its taking forever)

The PDF you have posted is working. Ive been looking it over. The basics of it say that its not a connection to your spouse but that some monies will be impuned to you for the purpose of calculating support.

Since he isn't paying at this time then yes follow it up and find out why.

Yeah, item 5, under letter F says...

F. Only income of persons having a legal duty of support shall be treated as income under
The guidelines. For example, income of a parent's new spouse is not treated as income
of that parent.

Thank you for all your help hon. I'm not going to try to change anything at the moment but your right I should definitely find out wahts going on at least.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenniepepsi

thank you for all your help hon. im not gonna try to change anything at the moment but your right i should definately find out wahts going on at least.

Was he sending the funds directly to you or are you working with a state child support agency ?

Working with the state. Arizona has this nifty card that works with chase bank, that puts the money on it like a gift card with a visa logo. They were also taking a lot of money for back payments to the state for cash assistance I received from the state. (if that makes sense?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenniepepsi

working with the state. arizona has this nifty card that works with chase bank, that puts the money on it like a gift card with a visa logo. they were also taking alot of money for back payments to the state for cash assistance i received from the state. (if that makes sense?)

Yes that makes sense. What you need to do is contact them if you haven't already to follow up on the support question. It may just be a screw up on their part too. If he isn't making payments then there may be things that can be done and at least the arrears will be documented from there forward. You should also be receiving monthly statements as to how the money is applied.

Yeah I get the statements. They just keep saying 'no payments for blah blah month'

Ill call them tomorrow morning err.. monday morning lol