Just looking for a little bit of advice here: I’m getting ready to have my Child Support order reviewed, and see that it asks whether or not the Custodial Parent has children not of our marriage. The original order was put into effect before the new child was born, but since my children have stopped going to day care, I wanted to have it reviewed so I could have that part removed… now I see that I’ll basically have it balance out so that I’ll still be paying the same amount.
My question is this: Why does North Carolina force ME to pay her more because she had another kid with her new husband? I haven’t seen my kids in over a year (they moved to Michigan in March of 2013), she’s choosing to be unemployed (she has a college degree; I do not), and as such I don’t have the financial means with which to visit them (since she won’t bring them down here or even meet halfway for more than 24 hours) or retain any sort of legal assistance to fight the sheer ridiculousness.
Don’t I have any rights as the Non-Custodial Parent in North Carolina?
You should ask the court to impute income to her if she is voluntarily underemployed. You should also file a claim (if one isn’t pending) for child custody. In court, you should ask the judge to put an order in place requiring her to transport the children to North Carolina for visitation since she voluntarily moved the children away from you.
Kathleen,
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, the court system has decided that, because neither she nor the children have lived in NC since the divorce, jurisdiction is held by either Virginia (where the support order and divorce decree originated) or Michigan (where they currently reside)… and she’s chosen to have any further legal action tried in Michigan.
However, since my child support order is enforced through NC (specifically Davidson County), I’m having to abide by their rules - which is why I asked about having to essentially pay for her child that’s not mine. Do you have any insight as to why that is even a condition? If she were working to help support their new family and was required to provide day care, I might be able to understand, but that’s not the case. Does a judge do the reviews of support orders? If so, are you aware of any documented history of them altering the order beyond what the “laws” state?
Thanks again for your input, and I apologize for the ranty nature of the original post… I’m just at my wit’s end here.
I can’t give advice on the laws of Michigan or Virginia. You need to speak with an attorney in the state that the child support claim is pending in to determine why her new child is being taken into consideration for the calculation of support.