bluestars
New
Reged: 01/07/07
Posts: 22
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Have been divorced for more than 2 years. At the time of the divorce, my ex claimed that she could not work due to children's disability--hence, permanent alimony of about $50K a year, more than half of my gross (she was self-employed so the income was hard to compute). The FSA stipulates that she cannot work and impute zero income from her. Found out recently from the Court ordered tax return of hers that she has close to $200K revenue in 2006 from her business, although she claimed loss for the tax return. The court ordered her to turn over her business records but scant evidence submitted by her hardly justified the claimed expenses (which were used to offset the revenues)--no receipts, no cancelled checks, etc. Hard to prove how much is exactly her income but is this sufficient ground to ask for reduction of alimony and if so, how much? I felt like being cheated out of the deal as I agreed to the generous alimony assuming that she would take care of the kids and be supportive of my job (which turns out tobe totally untrue, another story of its own). Any advice? Much appreciated.
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Jada
Platinum
Reged: 06/02/07
Posts: 3314
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[quote]Have been divorced for more than 2 years. At the time of the divorce, my ex claimed that she could not work due to children's disability--hence, permanent alimony of about $50K a year, more than half of my gross (she was self-employed so the income was hard to compute). The FSA stipulates that she cannot work and impute zero income from her. Found out recently from the Court ordered tax return of hers that she has close to $200K revenue in 2006 from her business, although she claimed loss for the tax return. The court ordered her to turn over her business records but scant evidence submitted by her hardly justified the claimed expenses (which were used to offset the revenues)--no receipts, no cancelled checks, etc. Hard to prove how much is exactly her income but is this sufficient ground to ask for reduction of alimony and if so, how much? I felt like being cheated out of the deal as I agreed to the generous alimony assuming that she would take care of the kids and be supportive of my job (which turns out tobe totally untrue, another story of its own). Any advice? Much appreciated. [/quote]
If this was fully disclosed before the alimony was ordered, meaning that the courts had these records at the time, there is no change in circumstances what would warrent a reduction in alimony.
Is that 50K actually child support or a combination of the two? That seems a little high for just alimony?
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bluestars
New
Reged: 01/07/07
Posts: 22
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It was not at all disclosed. There was minimum (i.e., <2K of revenue at the time of divorce, zero, three years preceeding that).
$50K is alimony alone, yeah, it's too high and I had a lousy lawyer!
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Jada
Platinum
Reged: 06/02/07
Posts: 3314
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[quote]It was not at all disclosed. There was minimum (i.e., <2K of revenue at the time of divorce, zero, three years preceeding that).
$50K is alimony alone, yeah, it's too high and I had a lousy lawyer! [/quote]
Well, then file for a modification based on this.
So the 50K is on top of child support?
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bluestars
New
Reged: 01/07/07
Posts: 22
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Yeah, the child support is also 135% of the guideline. I thought I was being generous but learned the hard way that generosity means nothing.
How much to ask for? Since I cannot pinpoint the exact income, I can only speculate based on the validity of expenses. Or, will the court decide for me? I am doing this myself as I cannot afford a lawyer. Thanks.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 5042
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The court will know that she has incentive in this process to provide you with ALL the proof of expenses, and teh fact that she refused to do so makes you golden here. But it does mean you've got to re-calculate her income for her because it's clear that she was not being completely honest with the IRS. Heck, she has incentive to provide this stuff to the IRS to keep from getting charged for back taxes & penalties... but she has MORE incentive to provide the proof of her deductions to YOU... as her proof will result in a $50K a year savings if she DOES have $200K worth of legitimate deductions.
If you walk in, showing that you have done her basic accounting for her because she is trying to minimize it without proof for the IRS, and showing that she was not being forthright in disclosing to the court... you will not only show her to be a person who tries to cheat on her own taxes, but you will show that you've taken her documentaiton and done with is a much more fair job than you had to do... if her income now shows 200K in gross, with $50K worth of prove-able deductiong, then use the $150K as her bottom line of income and ask for a reduction of 100% of the alimony, given that she's now making more than the ZERO per month that she claimed she was making, and in fact that she's more than making up for the $50K in her own income.
You might also want so suggest that if she is unable to make ends meet working so much that she not only collects but also spends $200K a year, it seems that she is taking time away form your son for nothing. ZERO value to her, ro him, to her lifestyle... and that all this activity is proof that she, indeed, CAN work at the same time as taking care of your son, so it is clear the circumstances have changed, the judge should no longer allow her to engage in this very expensive "hobby" but rather shoudl require her to get out & get a real job, since she obviously has plenty of time on her hands to engage in real work. It's NOT your best argument, but it would be worth pointing it out to the judge that clearly the premise upon which the initial stipulation was based, no longer exists... she can't any longer claim that she can NOT work, if she is earning and spending $200K a year in her own business (And THAT is if you take her own claims of zero net as true... it only gets worse for her if you realize that she was minimizing her net & not having proof of the true net).
Good luck & let us know how ti turns out.
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bluestars
New
Reged: 01/07/07
Posts: 22
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Thanks so much for the detailed response and encouragement. I will give a try and see how it turns out.
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