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RaY01 · Jan 3, 2009, 11:10 AM

:mad:HI,
My Fiance shares Joint legal custody with the kids mom - he has his girls [2] EVERY weekend, TIME on the holidays ALSO the whole month of August.
He pays $209.00 a week, he is up to date with the payments - no arrears are owed. He was suppose to go back to lower the payments once we had our baby who is 1 yrs old now.... he never when back - payments are still $209.00 a week.
Now the kids mother lost her job in early november. She called my fiance and told him that she was going to take him back to court because she needs more money.

JUST SOME FACTS MAYBE IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
1. in our family now there is a 1 year old [he is the paternal father]
2. A 9 yrs old & a 3 yr old [he is the step dad]
3. We are real tight ourselves with our bills & the rent being late every month.

Can the mother of his 2 girl do this? will his support be raised?
Please share with me your knowledge in this case..... Thank You! :(

cadillac59 · Jan 3, 2009, 11:42 AM

I can tell you how it would work in California.

Yes, the mom can go back to court and ask for an increase in child support because of the drop in her income (or job loss). Second, the fact that your fiancé has a child with you can serve as a basis to reduce his child support (it's called a hardship deduction); however, it may make little or no difference in some cases. The fact that you have two kids of your own will have no effect on your finance's child support because he is only a step-dad-to-be and has no obligation to support them (same result even after you marry your finance since step-parents have no duty to support their step-children in California).

RaY01 · Jan 3, 2009, 12:03 PM

If she collects unemployment does that have apart on the judges decision to also use that as her income?

cadillac59 · Jan 3, 2009, 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by RaY01

If she collects unemployment does that have apart on the judges decision to also use that as her income?

Yes.

cdad · Jan 4, 2009, 03:00 PM

What else you might consider if she tries for an increase is to ask for a greater amount of custody. After all she could use the extra time for finding a job and it takes the pressure off her for an extra amount of time. Also if she can't get employed fast enough you could ask for full custody since she doesn't seem able to support the children. Just something to consider.