CS modification question

bebe11

My H and BM2 are going to change their visitation agreement, which will also change the CS amount that H pays.  I am reading online, the quidelines for our state (California) and in the FAQ, one is "why do I have to enter my spouses income" and the answer is "Because it is used to calculate your tax responsibility and therefore impacts the child and spousal support figures".  I know that I had heard people say they don't have to include it, but I think if I DO include it, it would help us to pay less in CS? Or am I just wrong thinking that?  I know since our combined salary is over a certain amount, we pay a lot in taxes, so that is why I was thinking that.

I really don't want BM to know how much money I make, as she already has SD making comments like "since we are so rich, why can't we buy BM and her a house"  :-/

CFjo2010

Run the guideline calculator with your income included and then without.  When DH and BM were going through the CS process, DH and I entered my income just to see what would happen.  IT only changed the amount by like $10.  Not worth the headache of BM knowing how much money I make in my opinion. 

bebe11

I am not sure if I did it corretly, but yea, it doesn't make a difference if I put in my income.  And I really hope I did it right, because if I did, the support would drop by $500 a month.

CFjo2010

bebe11 said:

I am not sure if I did it corretly, but yea, it doesn't make a difference if I put in my income.  And I really hope I did it right, because if I did, the support would drop by $500 a month.

So without your income, DH would be paying about $500 a month less?  Dude, WINNER!!

Usually the only reason the Courts care about the new spouse income is to show how things are being paid for.  If BD claims his monthly expenses are $5000 a month and he only claims to make $3000, the Court wants to know how the remaining $2000 per month is getting paid.

bebe11

So, since we own a house and can add in those deductions for property tax and mortgage interest that helps us? 

I also ran the numbers using my income and my ex's with these deductions and it comes out to him owing me more each month.  But it's been 6 years since we originally came up with our CS.

xmaryrickx

Yeah I can't imagine that it works this way. So if a household makes a higher income it should lower CS? No.

2chatter

My only word of warning is that there are state mandated calculators here, too.  When DH was unemployed, he waited 6 months to file for a reduction in support (I supported all of us and could no longer do it; we could not pay the crazy CS and voluntary spousal and all regular expenses on my income alone).  The judge reduced it, but not to the standard amount it should have been reduced.  They can rule and set CS at anything they like, despite the calculators.

bebe11

@xmartrickx I am a little clueless on how it all works.  My ex and I did everything out of court, on our own.  I just entered the numbers that the calculator asked for.  For my H, it will lower CS because he will be going from 7% to 21% of time with SD.

xmaryrickx

Well a significant time change would be a valid reason to change child support. Having a higher household income and then lowering it would not be.

Banana44

I know for us that adding my income reduced his child support.  With our combined incomes we are in a different tax bracket with much higher taxes - so it actually is just showing the true nature of his salary.  

By calculating his salary alone in a lower tax bracket it would look like he is making more than he really makes.

But I wouldn't add my income unless it definitely changed the support and for us it reduced it by over $70.00.

jess9802

Ditto PPs - when I run the numbers my husband's Calif. CS obligation was reduced by adding my income due to the federal and state income tax brackets it placed us in.

CurlieWhirlie

Since there are some CA ladies in this thread, does anyone know how CS changes when a new child is born? For example, if my ex were to have a new baby, would that reduce the amount of CS he is obligated to pay me for our shared DS? Just curious, not related to actual circumstance. It just popped into my head as I was reading this thread.

Nineoceans

2chatter said:

My only word of warning is that there are state mandated calculators here, too.  When DH was unemployed, he waited 6 months to file for a reduction in support (I supported all of us and could no longer do it; we could not pay the crazy CS and voluntary spousal and all regular expenses on my income alone).  The judge reduced it, but not to the standard amount it should have been reduced.  They can rule and set CS at anything they like, despite the calculators.

This was our experience too. Judges can kind of do whatever they want (in our county)

CFjo2010

CurlieWhirlie said:

Since there are some CA ladies in this thread, does anyone know how CS changes when a new child is born? For example, if my ex were to have a new baby, would that reduce the amount of CS he is obligated to pay me for our shared DS? Just curious, not related to actual circumstance. It just popped into my head as I was reading this thread.

I was told by CA DCSS that DC's son only counts for like 1%, just like my DD only counts for 1%.  And we've run the numbers for DH to see if it changes anything with BM now that we have PJ and it was a difference of appx $3.  Seriously.  The only impact it made was when I ran the numbers to see what I would get in CS from DH, and then imputed that into the equation with BM.  Even then it was only a difference of $50.  

However, having another dependent means less money is taken out of the paycheck and therefore can mean more money for the CP.  Just like increased income into a different tax bracket can lower the CS obligation, more deductions (which frees up more money) can raise the CS.  It's a wacky thing.

twister22

xmaryrickx said:

Well a significant time change would be a valid reason to change child support. Having a higher household income and then lowering it would not be.

This.

I hope those calculations are wrong, because it's BS that his CS would lower by $500 per month just because of the taxes you guys have to pay. DH's child shouldn't suffer just because his dad married someone who puts them in a higher tax bracket.

bebe11

twister22 said:

xmaryrickx said:

Well a significant time change would be a valid reason to change child support. Having a higher household income and then lowering it would not be.

This.

I hope those calculations are wrong, because it's BS that his CS would lower by $500 per month just because of the taxes you guys have to pay. DH's child shouldn't suffer just because his dad married someone who puts them in a higher tax bracket.

No, the bulk of the reduction in CS would be because of the increase in the amount of time we would have SD, it would be going from 7% to 21%.