advice for child support

Hi, I live in massachusetts and I make roughly $63,000.00/year. I pay
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.

This year I am getting married and we are expecting our first child in
september.

My fiance is out of work, and I don't expect her to go back for some
time, so before the end of the year both wife and child will be
dependants.

Is there precedence in Massachusetts for getting child support lowered
under such circumstances? $100.00 per month would help out a great
deal. Should I risk it? Would I need a lawyer?

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Thanks!!

Jim

$100.00 per month would help out a great
deal. Should I risk it? Would I need a lawyer?

I would consult a lawyer. many offer free or low cost consultations.
OTOH, it could cost you more in legal fees overall than you would save.
Be sure the attorney addresses this.

$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.


Wow!!!! that is a lot more than in my state unless that counts daycare
or some extraordinary expense.

LLL wrote:
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.



Wow!!!! that is a lot more than in my state unless that counts daycare
or some extraordinary expense.


NCP in MA....shudder.

"xucaen" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, I live in massachusetts and I make roughly $63,000.00/year. I pay
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.

This year I am getting married and we are expecting our first child in
september.

My fiance is out of work, and I don't expect her to go back for some
time, so before the end of the year both wife and child will be
dependants.

Is there precedence in Massachusetts for getting child support lowered
under such circumstances? $100.00 per month would help out a great
deal. Should I risk it? Would I need a lawyer?

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Thanks!!

Jim

I hate to sound like a wet blanket, but I've had to deal with the MA Family
court system. They most likely will INCREASE the amount by your asking for
a reduction. Every time I asked for a reduction, I was handed with an
increase in C$.

So be very careful and seek legal assistance BEFORE you go to court.

"LLL" wrote in message
ups.com...
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.


Wow!!!! that is a lot more than in my state unless that counts daycare
or some extraordinary expense.

CP's (and I'm sure LLL is a female CP) have no perspective on how much NCP
men are really ordered to pay in CS, medical insurance, life insurance,
child care expenses, etc.

The $1,200 payment cited is 22.9% of his gross income and that has got to
approach at least 50% or more of his net income after taxes.

When I got divorced my combined payment for CS, SS, medical insurance, and
life insurance took over 34% of my gross income. As a percent of net income
after taxes it took 75%. I only retained $.25 of every dollar I earned.

It just frosts my butt that women claim ONLY 23% of a man's gross income is
not that much. Particularly when taxes take another 40%.

"Bob Whiteside" wrote in message
ink.net...

"LLL" wrote in message
ups.com...
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.


Wow!!!! that is a lot more than in my state unless that counts daycare
or some extraordinary expense.

CP's (and I'm sure LLL is a female CP) have no perspective on how much NCP
men are really ordered to pay in CS, medical insurance, life insurance,
child care expenses, etc.

The $1,200 payment cited is 22.9% of his gross income and that has got to
approach at least 50% or more of his net income after taxes.

When I got divorced my combined payment for CS, SS, medical insurance, and
life insurance took over 34% of my gross income. As a percent of net
income
after taxes it took 75%. I only retained $.25 of every dollar I earned.

It just frosts my butt that women claim ONLY 23% of a man's gross income
is
not that much. Particularly when taxes take another 40%.

Why would you include your own social security payments, life insurance
payments and your share of your medical insurance payments in with your
child support payments? You using that fuzzy math?

And why would it frost your butt that the woman aren't worried about the
man's taxes on the man's income? Why should that be the woman's concern?

Hi Jim,

I also live in MA and I pay $13K (down from $21K *wink*) on about $65K
of income.

I also have had now 12 years of rather frequent experience with the
probate system here.

Based on the numbers you provided you are within the guidelines and I
wouldn't bother.

The court is going to say that you had this prior obligation of CS and
your decision for future children is your problem.

The other part to consider is if your ex-wife is able bodied and
working at a reasonable level. I was able to get a significant
reduction by using the law that attributes income as she, as a college
graduate, certified to teach high school and able bodied, was staying
home, living off of my son's child support and waltzed into court
(after discovery) smugly stating that she was earning $0.89 yes that is
89 cents per hour.

The judge was not amused. BTW, women judges at least in Norfolk county
seem less tolerant of situations like this than male judges, imo.

If your ex is earning a reasonable income for her abilities, then I
would just leave it all alone.

BTW, you can do very well on your own in court by paying an attorney to
review your documents and paper-work filing, complaint, modification
requests, etc. but with you still representing yourself. My attorney
who charges about $300/hour for court work, which would have meant
about $5,000 for the modification I achieved, cost me only about $500
for his time. (Plus what I had to pay for an expert witness.)

Don


xucaen wrote:
Hi, I live in massachusetts and I make roughly $63,000.00/year. I pay
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.

This year I am getting married and we are expecting our first child in
september.

My fiance is out of work, and I don't expect her to go back for some
time, so before the end of the year both wife and child will be
dependants.

Is there precedence in Massachusetts for getting child support lowered
under such circumstances? $100.00 per month would help out a great
deal. Should I risk it? Would I need a lawyer?

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Thanks!!

Jim

"Moon Shyne" wrote in message
...

"Bob Whiteside" wrote in message
ink.net...

"LLL" wrote in message
ups.com...
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.


Wow!!!! that is a lot more than in my state unless that counts daycare
or some extraordinary expense.

CP's (and I'm sure LLL is a female CP) have no perspective on how much
NCP
men are really ordered to pay in CS, medical insurance, life insurance,
child care expenses, etc.

The $1,200 payment cited is 22.9% of his gross income and that has got to
approach at least 50% or more of his net income after taxes.

When I got divorced my combined payment for CS, SS, medical insurance,
and
life insurance took over 34% of my gross income. As a percent of net
income
after taxes it took 75%. I only retained $.25 of every dollar I earned.

It just frosts my butt that women claim ONLY 23% of a man's gross income
is
not that much. Particularly when taxes take another 40%.

Why would you include your own social security payments, life insurance
payments and your share of your medical insurance payments in with your
child support payments? You using that fuzzy math?

I thought he was saying Spousal Support--not social security.


And why would it frost your butt that the woman aren't worried about the
man's taxes on the man's income? Why should that be the woman's concern?

Well, to me it is an issue of fairness, Moon. Why *wouldn't* the CP want
there to be fairness--if the NCP earns the money, don't you think the NCP
should have enough left to live decently on? Do you think it is ok that the
NCP ends up taking home only 25 cents out of every dollar he earns?

"Moon Shyne" wrote in message
...

"Bob Whiteside" wrote in message
ink.net...

"LLL" wrote in message
ups.com...
$1200.00 per month in child support for one child.


Wow!!!! that is a lot more than in my state unless that counts daycare
or some extraordinary expense.

CP's (and I'm sure LLL is a female CP) have no perspective on how much
NCP
men are really ordered to pay in CS, medical insurance, life insurance,
child care expenses, etc.

The $1,200 payment cited is 22.9% of his gross income and that has got
to
approach at least 50% or more of his net income after taxes.

When I got divorced my combined payment for CS, SS, medical insurance,
and
life insurance took over 34% of my gross income. As a percent of net
income
after taxes it took 75%. I only retained $.25 of every dollar I earned.

It just frosts my butt that women claim ONLY 23% of a man's gross income
is
not that much. Particularly when taxes take another 40%.

Why would you include your own social security payments, life insurance
payments and your share of your medical insurance payments in with your
child support payments? You using that fuzzy math?

SS is spousal support. All the items I listed were court ordered in the
divorce decree. Life insurance was ordered to guarantee to payment of CS in
the event of my death.


And why would it frost your butt that the woman aren't worried about the
man's taxes on the man's income? Why should that be the woman's concern?

Because the women who cite percentages of a man's income do so to make it
sound like the amount paid is a very small amount of a man's gross income.
In fact, many women only cite the CS award amount and leave out the life
insurance, medical insurance, childcare expenses, etc. when they play this
game. They also ignore the facts the man loses his married filing status,
the dependent exemptions, the itemized deductions, and the ability to
qualify for tax credits. All of those tax related items significantly
reduce a man's net income.