dkdk3434
New
Reged: 06/17/06
Posts: 8
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my ex recently sold her business and home. Instead of re entering the work arena, she went back to college to get her masters. I have one child under 18, since cs is calculated on income, and she has little, will the judge take her future earnings into the calculations? Masters degrees do get you more money
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germangirl631
Platinum
Reged: 04/04/08
Posts: 876
Loc: NJ
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They probably wouldn't use the "masters" income until she is done college and earning those wages.
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dkdk3434
New
Reged: 06/17/06
Posts: 8
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so i should go back to college too. my income will go down and cs will too. ? nice..
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germangirl631
Platinum
Reged: 04/04/08
Posts: 876
Loc: NJ
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I don't have enough experience with this topic. I thought her income would be imputed since she chose to quit work to go back to school, so her CS shouldn't change. I could be wrong.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 4842
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Are you telling us that she was permitted to reduce her income in teh child support formula just becasue she decided to go back to school? Most judges, if you properly challenged this, woudl require her to give a good explanation that ended up with, "and then I'll be rich as anything in like a year from now and so reducing my support for this one year will be the best thing you can do for us", before they'd let her reduce her income...
More likely, they'd say, "good for you for going back to school to better yourself. But your child doesn't stop eating just becasue you go back to school, so find a way to fit child support into your plan and no problem".
Now, if she applied to reduce her support and you didn't properly challenge it, then you're maybe out of luck... and if you decided to go back to college just to retailiate, with no real good plan on how to pay for IT, let alone your support, and no real goals or expectations on exactly what it'll do for you, then you'll be out of luck if she decided to properly challenge the reduction in support. YOU might be required to continue to supprot at the same level as prveiously, fitting it into your college financing plans.
Most master's degrees are short, some are paid for by an employer (my husband got his with his employer paying for it), and you get promised a specific raise that makes it WELL worth it once the school is over... so it's very worth it.
IF they've got a PLAN... NOT if they're just going to avoid having to figure out what to do with themselves afterwards.
And the judges know it...
Tell me that she didn't just get her child support obligation reduced without you challenging it!
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KGrow
Platinum
Reged: 01/27/06
Posts: 3110
Loc: Colorado
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For the purposes of imputing income it is difficult to get hypotheticals such as level of education factored in. Imputed income is more readily based on more tangible factors such as: 40 hours/week at minimum wage. Previous salary history. Extrapolating part-time earnings to full-time equivalent.
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Jada
Platinum
Reged: 06/02/07
Posts: 3240
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Given that she already has a college degree, the courts will probably impute income to her to either her highest wage earned or an average of what people with her degree make. Unless you accept the reduction in income. If not, then you will need to make that clear and a judge will have to decide.
They aren't going to impute an income to her that she isn't capable of earning. And while she doesn't have a master's degree, she isn't capable of earning what that degree would bring in.
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dkdk3434
New
Reged: 06/17/06
Posts: 8
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Lets get this clear. I'm paying cs. She sold business and house (that I gave her). Chose not to reenter the workforce but to go back to school. Kudos to her, but I'm of the opinion that my cs should go down. I'd like to go back to school too, but I have bills and cs to pay.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 4842
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Why would YOUR support go down becasue SHE makes less money? If you're saying that the higher level she'd make when she starts working again, once figured into the formula, will make your support amount lower, then great... wait till she's out of school and earning at a higher level and apply to have your support lowered. If the formula makes it a substantial change, then you'll have no problem with it.
But if you somehow think your support should be lower because she now earns less? That makes no sense. Why would you want that? Are you jealous that she was able to get funding to pay for another year or two of school and you want to... what... make it so she can't afford to feed your child while she's in school?
I understand being frustrated when the ex seems to be able to afford stuff when they're getting supported by you and you can't afford it, but you have no idea what she's doing to get funded for school, and you have no right to examine it and say whether you think she's making a good investment in her future by taking this sacrifice in lifestyle for a year or so. And that's why, if she ASKED for an increase in support because she was earning less, she should be slapped down by the jduge... the judge would just tell her that this was her choice and she can't get more from you just because she chooses to earn less for a year or two. Same if you found funding & went to school. You could get your employer to finance it like my husband did, or you could sell your house and use the proceeds, or you could get your parents to lend or give you the money, or maybe you'd be eligible for a grant or scholarship. You would have to decide whether it was a good investment to take the loans and home equity and go back to school, and you'd not be allowed to reduce your child support whiel you were in school, because again, the child still eats even if you are choosing not to earn as much... you'd simply have to figure child support as a part of the price of living that you'd have to pay to go to school.
And then when you got out & got a job again, your new income would be calculated & teh child support amount would probably go up... just like when she gets out of school and her income goes up, her new income amount will be put into the formula if your state counts the receiving spouse's income, and the total amount of support will be adjusted accordingly.
But I don't see what her decision to go to school has to do with your child's need to eat and have a roof over thier head! Or why your own support would go down just becasue she figured out a way to support herself in returning to school on a temporary basis! I mean, you DO want your child to EAT, right? And clearly if her income is now nothing, the child's sole support is coming from you, so why would you think it made sense to REDUCE your portion of support? It doesn't make sense unless it's pure jealousy over her having figured out how to finance some college for herself.
Will it help you to remind yourself that she'll probably be living off of credit cards and will have a ton of loans to pay off once it's over? I mean, that also has nothing to do with your child and whether or not there's enough food for your child to eat, but if you understand that your ex will be suffering for her choice to return to school, it might make you feel somehow better?
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stoltz
Platinum
Reged: 01/29/07
Posts: 1478
Loc: Texas
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It's interesting once people realize that SHE is the CP how things start to unfold. Yes, she has decided to sell some assets, quit working, and go back to school. I'm sure she has adjusted her family budget accordingly with no input whatsoever from the government, because she has no accountability. If you, being the NCP, on the other hand, were to try it, chances are the courts would say tough-titty and impute your income (unless, of course, your petitioned for a reduction which would probably fall on deaf ears). You're accountable - she's not (unless she gets in such a predicament that endangers the child).
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