Agreed upon child support between parents?

if the parents of the children come to a mutual agreement on child support, can the agreed upon amount hold up in court, or will a judge, or whoever decide what the amount should be? i’m asking because most of my stbxh’s work is under the table and he gets paid straight cash. we have 3 daughters, ages 7, 6, and 5. also, what do you think about the minimum amount he’d have to pay would be. i’m not looking to take him for all he has, but i do want him to help support the kids, i will be doing the majority of it tho. thanks!

Parents may agree to an amount of support that is different from what the Guidelines state. I can’t say what the minimum amount would be without knowing all of the relevant facts. You may want to take a look at the child support calculator on this site to get an estimate of an appropriate support amount.

alright, cause i was thinking of asking for $450.00 per month, that would be $150.00 per child. my family as well as his family helps out by buying the girls clothes and school supplies on and off throughout the year, so i don’t feel as tho I’d need to ask for some exorbitant child support fee. also, he’s in construction, and his work is crazy, he almost never knows his work schedule, and i understand he has his bills he needs to pay, and he needs to be able to live, so again, i don’t want to try and take all he has. he can make any where from less than 1,000 a month to around 3,000 so that makes it kind of difficult.

Child support in cases like yours is normally determined using an average amount of income over the last year, or even three years. If you can provide for your children’s reasonable needs with his contribution of $450 per month the court will allow it.