Hello,
I am a US citizen, and my child’s mother and I have handled all child support (CP) and custody matters under the the jurisdiction of a county in North Carolina. My partner of five years and I I have moved abroad for a set of personal reasons. We will both soon graduate from a program, and both she and I have lined up a jobs here. My child lives with his mother in North Carolina, and the child spends summers here with us. I have been paying monthly child support (CP) as a student with no income. CP payments have therefore been calculated at minimum wage. The amount is explicitly stated in an official court order from 2010. After beginning my new job, this will be a substantial change in circumstances and I feel I should increase my monthly support payment accordingly.
My question is: Should I incorporate purchasing power parity (PPP) into the CP calculation worksheet? According to Trading Economics, where I live one US dollar can purchase 77% (1/1.3) of the goods that it can purchase in the US. Imagine, for example, that the currency where I live is XX. I am to make a salary of 312,000 XX annually. Using the appropriate currency conversion rate of approximately 6.5 XX/US dollar, this converts to 48,000 US dollars annually. Where I live, that $48k is only capable of purchasing 77% of the goods it could purchase in the US, or the equivalent of $36,960. In this example, if I run the CP calculation off of the $48K, I am obliged to pay $600 monthly. If I run the calculation off of the 36.96K, I am obliged to pay $500 monthly.
I am not trying to be cheap and figure out how I can pay less child support. I have always supported my child financially and I have always been an active part of his life. I am only trying to figure out what is fair. I must say that my child’s mother is irresponsible, manipulative, reckless, and borderline negligent. She has never been addicted to drugs, and she has never been abusive. She has always struggled to keep friends, family, jobs, and she is consistently dependent on the current boyfriend in her life. She and my child have lived with several (>8) different men since we split up seven years ago and she takes every opportunity she can to exercise power and make my life difficult. So I am hesitant to begin negotiating CP around my future employment until I know precisely what my obligations are.
Let me know what you think.