Q: I got a divorce, bought a house, and then me and my ex husband are talking again. If he moves in, does my CS stop?

A: Hello and thanks for your question. While many couples split up and then reconcile, the effect of this on child support is not at all clear, unfortunately. In fact, you may even get different answers from different lawyers on this issue! I'll try my best to give you specific advice here, but you should consider talking to a family law attorney about all the specifics of your case.

Generally speaking, courts in New Jersey would NOT order child support to be paid from one parent to another when the family is what they call "intact" or all living under the same roof. The theory is that by virtue of the fact that they are sharing a house, they must be automatically sharing the expenses for the kids, such as food, clothing, rent, utilities, etc. Also, most child support, as I'm sure you know since you already have an order in place, is calculated using the NJ Child Support Guidelines. The Guidelines were created to make an approximate guess of the costs of raising a child when the parents do not live together. That's why the number of overnights used in the Guidelines is a factor that can change the child support amount. If you are all living together, then there really are no "number of overnights" as a factor any longer.

There have been some cases, however, where one parent, still living in the home, simply refuses to contribute any money at all to the household and they instead hoard their income. In these cases, a judge certainly could order that parent to provide child support but it would most likely NOT be calculated using the guidelines. If the two of you do reunite and you both AGREE that the support should continue, I suggest you talk to an attorney and get that agreement in writing and filed with the court.

Again, consider a consult. Many attorneys offer free consultations as we do. Hope this was helpful for you. Regards, Bari.