I currently have an agreement with my ex that I will pay her a fixed amount of child support each month. However, it also states that should my salary change by more than 8% (either way) we will recalculate child support using the official state calculator. My salary has not changed by that much, however I am losing my job next month and will receive a one-time severance payment from my 12 years of employment. So my question is do I need to pay child support on that amount? Is it considered salary? I’m hoping to work it out fairly with my ex, but if we were to go court how would this likely be seen/worked out? Thanks.
The 1child support guidelines do not address irregular payments such as lump sum payments with specificity. The guidelines leave it up to the court’s discretion how to handle the assessment of an obligation on these irregular payments as that would change depending on the circumstances. In my opinion, since the severance pay equals 12 months worth of salary, then your obligation should remain the same for 12 months, except if you get a job before the period elapses. At that point, you should offer to pay a percentage based on the remaining balance, and recalculate for the new salary.