Philadelphia, PA asked in Divorce and Family Law for New Jersey

Q: My ex- is supposed to have the 1 night a week for dinner and every other weekend. He has only seen them

A handful of times in the last year. He claims it is because I live in another state an hour away which was agreed upon during the divorce and he is living with his parents concurrently laid off from work. I am faced with the financial burden of having the children 24/7. When I asked my divorce attorney in New Jersey if I am entitled to more child support she said not to rock the boat because Time Warner the company who works for laid him off last October and a judge may say he doesn't have to pay the child support and alimony because he is unemployed and only receiving Severance for a year and his unemployment check. I don't feel that this information is correct. He was the director of advanced analytics at Time Warner make six figures and lives with his parents currently and has no outstanding bills to pay. Please advise if I'm entitled to higher amount of child support. TIA

Related Topics:
1 Lawyer Answer
Richard Diamond
Richard Diamond
Answered
  • Short Hills, NJ
  • Licensed in New Jersey

A: I dont agree with the "rationale" given to you by your NJ divorce lawyer, BUT the conclusion may be correct. Let me explain. When you got divorced, the lawyers / court prepared a child support guideline worksheet, listing his total income, your total income, the payment of health insurance coverage for the children ( and who pays for it) and the actual overnight parenting plan in place. As to the overnight plan, it provided for him having the children 52 overnights per year, which means that they employed the SOLE parenting worksheet. If your former husband had the children with him on an overnight basis 28.5% of the time or more, we would use a different child support guideline worksheet called the SHARED parenting worksheet. What the lawyer should have done was simply calculate the difference between what he is currently paying you based on 52 overnights and what he would be paying you for 26 overnights (by example) so you can see what the difference would be. My guess is that the difference between the 52 and 26 overnights is not great, which leads into the issue raised by your lawyer. If you suggest that you should be entitled to an adjustment based on him not taking the children every other weekend, he is going to file a cross application seeking a reduction in his child support obligation based on his termination from employment. And, then the fight will be over whether he has engaged in a good faith effort to find replacement employment, discovery and potentially a hearing.... all of which will cost you a lot of money and no guarantee that you will prevail. And if you do prevail, the question is still "what is the actual difference in monthly payment of the child support between him currently at 52 overnights and whatever is his actual overnight plan. As to him living with his parents and not incurring a rent expense, that would be a better argument in a shared parenting plan setting with him having the children 28.5% of the time or more., not in a sole parenting time setting.

Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.

The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.

Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.