Divorce Support Forums: New CS law in MN

You can bring a motion for modification if you have a qualifying event this year. The events are:

1. either party has substantially increased or deceased income;
2. either party or the child subject to the proceedings have substantially increased or decreased need;
3. receipt of public assistance;
4. A change in the cost of living for either party which makes the obligation unreasonable or unfair;
5. extraordinary medical expenses of the child not provided for in a previous order regarding health insurance or division of uninsured medical expenses;
6. the addition of work or education related child care expenses of the obligee or a substantial increase or decrease in the exiting work or education related child care expenses;
7. The emancipation of a child.

I was able to bring about a change this year as I lost my job a couple of months back.

Thereare a couple of factors which are important under the new rules. You will receive the most benefit (if any benefit at all) if one, your ex and your income are approximately equal and there are less than two children that are supported. It gets more complicated if there is shared parenting time but as that does not apply to me I do not know much about it.

You can bring a motion to change the support after 1 Jan 2008 if there is a 20% change and at least $75 in the support level. But there are some quirks about the calculation. Income is calculated on gross income. To get the biggest benefit as previously mentioned your incomes should be about equal.

In my case when I was working and my sbex was working I made about 40% more than her. I would of have seen about $250/month reduction in CS for the one remaining child. Here is one of the quirks. Amazingly my sbex quit her job after I lost mine. When I return to work here shortly I am better off from a child support amount if she does not work. At my same level of salary from before and the sbex not working my CS drops about $400/month.

Another thing if you do get a chance for a modification is to ensure the medical insurance for the child is well defined as to its cost.

Good luck. Hope this helps.