Greetings. Let’s see if I cannot help give you a clearer understanding of what path you should take:
Yes, current law in North Carolina mandates that when child support is initially set up by the North Carolina Child Support Enforcement it will be deducted from your spouse’s wages. Of course you should want this to happen instead of being trapped by her whims. This takes the child support issue totally out of her ability to manipulate.
You should check our on-line child support calculator to see how much the child support will be.
The benefits of joint custody, through a court order, are enforceability, more time with the children, more decision making authority. Yes, your chances of getting to see the child more often increase with joint custody. You will have a say about private school if you have joint custody.
Best of luck.
Janet L. Fritts
Attorney with Rosen Divorce
4101 Lake Boone Trail, Suite 500
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607 RosenDivorce.com
919-787-6668
The response posted above is based upon the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with an attorney, fully explain your situation, and allow the attorney sufficient opportunity to research the applicable law and facts required to render an accurate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service but a full discussion with an attorney should be undertaken before taking any action.
Just a couple of things that I wanted to let you know/question.
First, do you have anything in writting? Especially about the visitation, how many overnight visits do you have the child for? The total amount of overnights the child spends with you will have a lot to do with your child support. I have my son, legally, Friday 6pm until Monday 730am, this means that I have him a total of 156 nights out of the year. Since the number was more than 128 worksheet B could be filled out for CS which basically meant that I have joint custody, and saved me $200+ a month.
If the CS agreement is in writting at the amount it currently is it cannot change for 3 years. My CS had been at a very low amount that my ex and I had agreed upon until this month when we reached our 3 year mark and she requested to have it reevaluated.
Your husband would be better off having his wages garnished. This way the ex cannot hound him for money. It produces less stress on your end.
Definately fill out the CS calculator found on the home page. This will give you an idea of what to expect. It is possible that your husband would have to pay more or pay less, just depends. The fact that you have two younger children together is helpful becuase they take that into consideration; as well as the health care benefits. Your husband is actually required to provide health insurance for his child if his employeer offers it.
Hope this helps out…It is just what I know from my own situation.
My husband’s ex-wife is seeking to have his wages garnished for child support. In short, last year she requested that she receive a check every other weekend (hand delivered) during the visitions. This was AFTER she had her c/s drafted from our bank account to her twice per month for quite some time. Reluctantly, we agreed (verbally - nothing written).
Within the past year, she’s frequently withheld the visitations (for various excuses), and therefore did not recieve her c/s check on that particular weekend. Therefore, we’ve had to mail it, to which she received the following week. BTW, she moved 3 hours away two years after the divorce.
My questions are:
Does my husband have to have his wages garnished? Clearly, he is not in arrears. Also, would it be more advantageous on our part to just send the child support directly to the state, vs. sending it to her?
Can his child support payments increase? Currently he pays $320/month. He even verbally agreed to increase these payments a few years ago (by $50 per month). He does not make much more than he did when they divorced, and his son is no longer in an aferschool program (he is age 12). My husband pays 100% of his health care benefits. And we now have 2 young children together. If she seeks more c/s money, we will clearly not be able to do so, unless I were to go back to work full time.
What are the benefits to getting joint custody? She now has full custody. Will our chances of getting him more often improve? If she decides to send him to private school, do we have a say (we certainly could not afford that!)?