Figuring out Child support?

Basic_Advance7627 · 2023-05-12T01:18:21+00:00

Mine was just my 40 hour salary. I work more and make more but it wasn’t counted in my state.

jimsmythee · 2023-05-12T01:22:58+00:00

Generally it’s based on 40 hour a week salary, as bonuses aren’t guaranteed income.

RuRu_1999 · 2023-05-12T03:20:29+00:00

Bonuses are uncertain. So it’s not just presumed that you will receive it.

ijustdontcare74 · 2023-05-12T14:08:14+00:00

Mine excludes bonuses as they are not a given. I know some justifications state a % of bonuses must be given. Safest way is not to declare any bonuses at all. It’s always irked me that you can slave away and really improve your situation yet are punished for doing so. The wording they use is that’s it’s for “the children” but we all know all your CS is not spent on your kids. Why should my bonus go to pay for a new pair of shoes or a handbag for her? My ex had never done anything to improve her financial situation and once the CS ends, she’s going to be fucked, but I have zero sympathy at all. I know she lives off my CS. Why doesn’t she pull her weight to improve the kids lives, why is it just my problem?….and yes we have a 50/50 split. It’s totally understandable why men hide assets.

CommanderOfCheese45 · 2023-05-12T15:18:33+00:00

It's whatever you both can agree on, or whatever the judge orders if you can't agree. If the income is reasonably steady and doesn't rely on wildly variable bonuses, then you can probably generally agree on calculating it based on base income, but if most of the income comes from bonuses or commissions then you'll probably go off of some kind of average.

In my case, we agreed on using my ex's actual income (minimum wage part time) instead of stipulating her income as either "minimum wage full time" or even "market wage for someone in the area with her credentials and experience."

AudreyTooTwo · 2023-05-12T17:15:55+00:00

This is a great question and there is no easy answer. Although lots of people like to claim that child support is a simple formula, it's really not. Beware, this could be a minefield, so proceed with caution.

In many ways, it depends on your wife, her lawyer, and the judge. That is, how greedy and agreeable are they?

I'll give you a hypothetical: If a man has a steady job that pays the same every month, year after year, just use the previous year's W-2. Or perhaps the last three paystubs.

But lots of men work on bonuses, or commissions, or sometimes get overtime, or hazard pay, or whatever. In that case, some very greedy women will try to get child support based on the highest possible income that you can theoretically earn. Example: Some people say to just take an average of the past 24 months. But why 24? Lawyers aren't stupid. If the numbers are better if they use 36 months, then they'll use 36 months. Or if they're better at 12 months, they'll go that direction, and so on.

You REALLY want to be sure your child support isn't based on bonuses, commissions and overtime that may not always be available. Lots of people think it's easy to get child support lowered; they think it's simply a matter of showing the judge your new paystubs. But I'm here to tell you, it's not that simple. Courts generally don't lower payments once they're ordered. They really won't care if your industry slows down, or the economy gets sluggish, or your bonuses vanish, or you get burned-out from overtime, or you need time off to care for a dying parent, or you get depressed or injured or laid-off. Once that number is written down, it's very difficult to get it modified downward.

So, what's it all mean? You come to court with YOUR numbers. The other side will no doubt have their own numbers. You use your base salary adjusted gross income only. Or maybe take a 3-year average of your bonus and add that. Basically, you want to come in low. If the other side wants a higher number, you can argue in court. Or try to get some language in the court order that deals with one-off bonuses as they come. The judge has a lot of discretion here. Emphasize that you're not trying to be greedy; you just want to be sure you can always pay in the future.

Again, can't stress this enough: be sure your baseline monthly payment is as low as possible. A rainy day will come, someday.

Title	Figuring out Child support?
Author	Successful-wet-fart
Upvotes	1
Comments	10
Date	May 12, 2023 12:50 AM UTC (3 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/Divorce_Men
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/Divorce_Men/comments/13f5pcq/figuring_out_child_support/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/Divorce_Men/figuring-out-child-support.1219042 https://theredarchive.com/post/1219042

Comments