If my ex has a new child with his new wife, can he modify our child support order for reduction based on this child?
The North Carolina Child Support Guidelines addresses this question. In the section regarding pre-exising child support payments and responsibility for other children, the guidelines explain:
"A parent’s financial responsibility (as determined below) for his or her natural or adopted children who currently reside with the parent (other than children for whom child support is being determined in the pending action) is deducted from the parent’s gross income. Use of this deduction is appropriate when a child support order is entered or modified, but may not be the sole basis for modifying an existing order.
A parent’s financial responsibility for his or her natural or adopted children who currently reside with the parent (other than children for whom child support is being determined in the pending action) is equal to the basic child support obligation for these children based on the parent’s income."
But does this contradict an article that Rosen has on this subject under FAQ? It will not let me input this link. His wife has a job. That counts as support to her own child, right? if-my-ex-spouse-remarries-and-has-a-child-with-the-new-spouse-will-this-affect-the-amount-of-child-support-that-he-or-she-will-pay-for-our-children/
Pursuant to the guidelines, if there were grounds to modify the order outside of his new child, he could ask the court to deduct his support obligation for his new child from his gross income. His new spouse’s income has no bearing on the award. The judge would have to find that his request for a deviation from the guidelines was warranted.