Long story short

I have been divorced for 14 years and have 2 children with my ex-husband. Long story short, over a year ago, DSS became involved when my 13 year old son came home from his father’s with bruises. DSS recommended that counseling take place before any vistation. My ex-husband has refused counseling so my son has not had any vistation. My daughter has gone to her father’s for visitation, not as often though. I have tried to enter info into child support calculator and can’t figure out how to make adjustments for our situation. Per original order, I have sole physical custody and we have joint legal custody. How do I go about trying to figure out what child support would be with my daughter continuing to have vistation and my son having no vistation at all? Would this be considered special circumstance that deviates from Worksheet A?

Also, I was with lawyer a year ago when all of this came out, trying to get child support adjusted and ex-husband to pay outstanding medical fees. Child support has never been adjusted. Two years ago I asked him for copies ofhis tax returns - I found out there are dividends that have always come in and are still coming in that were never part of calculations. My lawyer told me last fall he doesn’t have to release tax return because in original agreement it doesn’t state he has to. Is this true?

Yes, this would be grounds for the court to deviate from the guidelines. To learn more about this, read our article on Deviation from the Child Support Guidelines. You should be able to compel his tax returns through discovery if you are in litigation regarding the child support issue. The tax returns provide income information necessary to calculate child support.