First a little background. I was divorced about two years ago from my first wife. We have three children together and my support amount is about $1000/mo (calculated when my pay was $3600/month).

I am a US Servicemember, and have very little (no) say in where I am located. Recently I was put on orders for Germany. Because I am no longer allowed to live "off post", I no longer receive and entitlement in my pay called BAH (Basic Army Housing) which is a stipend to provide housing and utilities for living off post. Instead, I am provided military quarters for me and my new family on-post here in Germany. Although, I do receive an additional stipend of $250 called COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) to offset the exchange rate and the expenses of living overseas.

The outcome of this is that I make ~$750 less per month than I did when my child support was ordered. In Texas, the guidelines for a re-calculation of support, what is considered a "substantial change in income", is a difference of $200 or a %20 change is the support amount.

According to Texas Family Code, I'm eligible to request a re-calculation of my child support based on the change in my income, but I've run into problems with it.

I called the Texas Attorney General Child Support office and was flatly told by one of the people there that the only way my support amount could be changed would be if my ex-wife agreed to the change or I litigated. They said that they would mail the form to request the change, but they could do nothing for me because I would have to get a court order to change the support. (I still haven't received this form in the mail.)

A week later, I filled out the form online and called back and the person on the phone said "What online form?" basically denying that there was an online form to submit for assistance.

I've called several times asking if they've dispatched the form via mail for me to fill out to request services and they always tell me that it's "in the mail".

Basically I've gotten no help from them at all.

Take my current (second) wife. She has two children with her ex-husband, and receives child support through the same office I pay child support through.

Her ex-husband recently (a year ago) got promoted from SGT to W01 (sergeant to warrant officer). He has over 10 years in service and it was about a $2000/mo pay increase for him.

She submitted the form online for a recalculation (they had agreed to give him a year to get on his feet after the divorce before they would re-calculate, as he was due to be promoted 3 months after their divorce), received a call the next day requesting additional information (because they had to open a case, as my wife's last divorce was amicable and the support amount was agreed to), and three days after she requested assistance, they not only got a court order increasing the support amount, but they contacted DFAS (the payment processor for the US Military) and back-dated his child support from the day he was promoted, putting him $4000 in arrears.

Why can they, in three days, get a court order to raise the support amount for my wife's children from her ex-husband, but they cannot help me when my child support is now over 50% of my take home pay.

They absolutely refuse to help me over the phone, won't send me any paperwork, won't provide me my login information for the Child Support Interactive site to view my child support information and they INSIST that they only way for me to change my support amount is to litigate.

My child support case is a "full service" case, but in fact it seems that it's only a full service case if a custodial parent calls.

What can I do? Is there anyone I can contact to complain about the treatment I am receiving and the apparent disparity in the treatment of non-custodial parents vs custodial parents in the state of TX?

I feel like my only option is going to be to hire an attorney, but I don't relish spending $5000 to have my support amount lowered by $250/month, especially considering I'm currently overseas and wouldn't be able to appear in court.

I feel like I should just take the hit and forget getting my support amount changed, but I know the moment I get a raise, they're going to make it even higher. It should be just as easy as supplying a couple of pay stubs to establish the change in income, but it never will be.

I'm floundering, barely meeting my financial obligations and $250/mo extra would be a godsend. My new family isn't starving, but we're barely squeezing by as it is.

TL;DR Child Support Office won't help lower my support amount at all, but takes less than 3 days to raise my second wife's children's support amount.

Any advice, stories, or anything? It'd be nice to hear from people that are just as frustrated by this kind of thing as I am.