CS question

Erin0922

Right now, DH pays weekly CS. BM uses it to pay her rent (which is fine with us, since her living conditions before she did literally made SS sick). 

We currently live 1200 miles away (we're in VA, they are in AR) and planning on moving to AR shortly after LO is born, and BM has already said that when we do, she is on board for filing for joint physical custody.

If you have joint custody, do you pay/receive CS? We make way more than BM, so obviously affording it is not an issue, nor do I begrudge SS the money, I am really just curious. I am new to all this, and DH seems to think we won't be required to pay it anymore. 

I'm thinking it still will depend on what the judge awards BM, with the CO and whatnot.  

Any ideas? 

 

MrsBPO

Everybody will give widely varying answers because child support laws vary by state.

What I have been able to figure out for Arkansas though is that it appears that child support is based solely on the NCP's income and number of children.  If DH is the NCP, he continues to pay child support.  I don't see any variance for time allotments or anything else.  It looks like AR is possibly a "screw the dad" state but since I'm not from there and only looked at a couple calculators and the guildelines very, very, very briefly I could very well be wrong.  You should ask an attorney who practices in AR.

And also, CS can be modified if both parties consent so if you're spending more time, maybe she's willing to reduce CS.  But the consideration, if you're able to afford it, is it worth it if it's going to mean her standard of living is reduced, even if you're paying for BM's standard of living to increase?

(A BM who reduced and wrote off CS because she could afford to and BF couldn't comfortably pay.)

Erin0922

BM will NOT consider agreeing to lesser CS. I know her opinion on it, and I know it won't change. 

The question of is it worth it is greatly disagreed upon between DH and I. We don't miss the money (and do send extra for seasonal clothes, holidays, etc, and he's covered on our insurance), and since we don't plan on fighting for full custody, I am a-ok with BM using the money to keep SS in better housing, and in turn, healthier. 

DH thinks that if he is going to pay for his son's rent, SS should just live with us (if we are in AR) - but since things are FINALLY getting congenial, I really don't think we should rock that boat. 

Oh well, thanks for helping me out, and it looks like DH has some research to do!

monkeygirlsmomma

From what I just looked up on line the form looks the same as it is here. And yes he can go and change what he pays her if his time with SS is changed but she may fight him if she finds out he is wanting to reduce her CS. The way it works here is they put both parents information in a computer and the computer spits out the number that one of them owes. Now i'm not sure how it works if it's exactly 50/50 b/c right now ours is 49/51 so we still owe her money.

 

 

taagent

Our CS calculator lets you enter what the custody situation is, so if it changes to joint (which means here that you would have SS for more than 109 days a year) it calculates CS differently than it would if custody was with one parent.  Here it will also take into consideration who pays insurance (for that child alone) and how much, who pays for child care and how much, and if there are any other children in the home that each parent has to support as well, and then of course income. 

I would google Arkansas Child Support Calculator, and play around with it, see what you can figure out. 

MrsBPO

Quick child support guidelines and info:  https://www.helpyourselfdivorce.com/arkansas-child-support.html

https://www.millenniumdivorce.com/articles/Arkansas-Child-Support.asp

https://www.divorcesupport.com/divorce/Arkansas-Child-Support-Factors-435.html

Calculators:

https://www.alllaw.com/calculators/childsupport/Arkansas/

This is the only one online I could immediately find.  As you can see, the only considerations are "net income" and "number of children."  No "hours in each home" or other considerations.

The second calculator site that comes up states "Arkansas does not have an online calculator but uses charts" or something along those lines.  The links above might also lead to the charts since that was my initial search term.  You should be able to find the charts if you Google for or go to the Legislative branch website and codes/statutes for child support (for the most recent numbers).

DREWLILY

We have SD 50% of the time and DH and BM have shared custody, but we still pay CS. We don't pay as much as some people do, but we are required since DH makes more money than BM.

dnh

DH has 50/50 custody of the kids alternation 7 days with us and 7 days with BM. We still pay BM cs because DH makes more money than she does. BM and DH agreed last year that 50/50 would be best for the kids but BM would only agree if DH did not try to reduce the cs. So he signed an agreement w/o lawyers that said "I do not intend to seek a reduction in cs due to this arrangement" and had it notarized for her. Then this year she tried to move out of our county and take the kids. We hired a lawyer and went though mediation. Originally we were paying 1800/month for both kids now after this revised agreement signed by a judge we are paying 1000/month and were able to maintin the 50/50 even with BM moving out of our county.