My wife and I separated back in September. We agreed I would get the kids on Wed and every other weekend and I would pay $1,100 in child support and she would get 100% of the estate (which is probably valued over 100K) except I get one car, and I assume $120,000 of my school loans. Aside from that we had no debt on the date of separation. I offered her 100% of the estate because I love her and I don’t want to disrupt my daughters current lifestyle (we separated due to incompatibility issues). Anyway, this was an oral agreement. I told her to get an attorney and have the separation agreement done but it has been delayed due her fault.
We are now disputing our original oral agreement, which I know is not binding. We are somewhat amicable though and we want to settle this out of court. Now she wants $1300 in child support and to claim one dependent and 100% of the estate. We have two children, 3 and 5.
The issues/questions I have are this:
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She now wants full custody so under the guidelines she would be entitled to $1,600 in child support. At $1,300 (and I pay $250 for health insurance) she is getting more than one third of my paycheck and this is going to affect my standard of living. She is currently living in a $214,000 house. I am living in an apartment and too much debt to buy a house. I pay $1,600 a month in school loans. I didn’t live with spouse full-time when I was in school for 7 years and I paid for my apartment, utilities etc. when I was in school. I finished school in 2011 and we separated in 2012. Do my school loans factor at all in regards to the child support guidelines considering the facts? Also, since I am offering 100% of the estate would this be a factor to consider for child support?
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Her attorney thinks $1,100 is unreasonable, even though I’m giving her 100% of the estate, and my wife is not working a full-time job, and will not, and makes a little more than half of what I do and she is getting the tax benefits for day care etc. She could earn close to what I earn if she worked a 40 hour work week. I’ve read the other posts in here about imputing income but do I have a chance of imputing income?
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She signed up my daughter for the most expensive private school in Fayetteville and I offered to move to any school district because I am in an apartment and can easily move. (We both live in bad districts). I supported her as long as I didn’t have to pay for it. She agreed and I didn’t sign the paperwork. Now she wants more child support, I believe, to finance the private school. Is this a factor to consider?
I do not have the funds to hire an attorney so I am doing this solo. Thank you for any assistance.