[wantanswers34]

I am paying child support for my 8 year old daughter. The mother is on ssi and so is her new husband and their baby together. The mother just raised my support again within three years and she is always complaining of never having any money and is trying to find the right doctor to say that my daughter has something wrong with her just to get her on ssi what can I do to make sure my daughter really has something wrong first, because the mother is saying what is wrong with my daughter and I don't see it at all... because my step son has the same thing and you can really tell with him that he has it... Also will my Child support be affected if my daughter dose get ssi can the mother go back and raise the support again just because of the ssi??

[Fr_Chuck]

First the mother does not "raise" your payments, you pay more because your income has done up and the court and payment is based on income

The child being on or not on, will not effect the amount, but if it is considered some disability you may be required to pay more of the non covered medical bills. Also you may have to pay for the child longer than 18 if it is a serious enough handicap

As to your rights, what legal custody do you have, ( or do you even have any) not the physcial custody, but the legal custody, what does your custody agreement say about medical treatment

The simple truth, not one you want to hear, you may not even have any right to say anything about her medical care unless your custody agreement gives it to you

[GV70]

Rule 1910.16-1. Amount of Support. Support Guidelines.
(a) Applicability of the Support Guidelines.

(1) Except as set forth in subdivision (2) below, the support guidelines set forth the amount of support which a spouse or parent should pay on the basis of both parties’ net monthly incomes as defined in Rule 1910.16-2 and the number of persons being supported.
(2) In actions in which the plaintiff is a public body or private agency pursuant to Rule 1910.3, the amount of the order shall be calculated under the guidelines based upon each obligor’s net monthly income as defined in Rule 1910.16-2, with the public or private entity’s income as zero. In such cases, each parent shall be treated as a separate obligor and a parent’s obligation will be based upon his or her own monthly net income without regard to the income of the other parent.

[ScottGem]

Yes the mother does not raise your support amount. The mother does have the right to petition the courts periodically to raise the amount of support if circumstances change. The amount of time she has to wait to petition the court depends on local laws, but is normally at least 6 months.

If you have joint legal custody, you can contribute to any decision on medical care. So, if you are unsure about whether a doctor is correctly diagnosing your daughter, then take her to another doctor for a second opinion.