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What else besides monthly child support can a court order a non-custodial parent to pay?
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Anonymous
| My ex pays monthly court ordered child support. Just wondering if he could also be ordered to pay other expenses in addition to this like half of the health insurance premium, half of the doctor/dentist bills, half of childcare expenses/summer camp, etc? |
Anonymous
| Does he have visitation and if so how much? |
Anonymous
| There is no court ordered visitation. He just comes over whenever he is able to which isn't very often with his job (every few months for a day or two). |
Anonymous
|
OP,
Have you asked him? I'd speak with a lawyer. I'm confused why, if you went to court, you didn't ask for more that time? Did you discuss expenses with your lawyer? |
Anonymous
|
what state? I know in my state, Virginia, our child support was calculated based on both of our incomes to include our daycare expenses and our health care expenses specifically. To give you some idea, I make $86K a year and my ex makes $88K. Our daycare is $1,218, health insurance is $110/month and he was ordered to pay about $1,250/month. We had the paperwork drawn up to state that if there were medical expenses in excess of $250/year, he would split the excess. Those things should all be taken into account in the standard child support amount. You can find the formula online for figuring out what he *should* owe, if you know his income.
Good luck. |
Anonymous
| OP here. I live in MD. I didn't hire a lawyer. I couldn't afford one. I filled out the paper work and filed it with my local child support office. He lives in VA. He went to court in VA where he was ordered to pay X in child support monthly. I don't remember if this amount was to include the cost of health insurance or not (this was a few yrs ago). My insurance premiums keep going up, up, up and now I am wondering it is an expense I can have him pay for half of. He is an idiot so he would have no clue about anything. He is currently paying nada since he is unemployed. My mom and neighbor take care of my DS for free so there is no childcare expense to speak of. I guess I'll just call the child support office and ask. |
Anonymous
I think this is worth a $300 consultation with a lawyer- you stand to gain way more than $300, so I would get some advice before filing anything pro se. |
Anonymous
|
OP,
I would not spend a dime on a lawyer. You can get free legal advice from the court or a legal aid clinic. Call and educate yourself about what to do when he is working again. Keep us posted. What you learn might help others. |
Anonymous
| P.S. 10:20 again. I would spend money on a lawyer if you don't find free legal advice. Your questions are very straightforward, I think you should be able to get your answers without spending money for a lawyer. |
Anonymous
I disagree. I think you get what you pay for, and SOMETIMES its worth is to spend the $. |
Anonymous
| 12:29 With divorce lawyers, you do not always get what you pay for. If the answer to OP's question is nothing, and she can find that out on her own, why spend $300? There are great legal clinics at family courts. There is only one answer here. I believe OP is smart and she can find it out without paying anyone a fee. Now, I am the first to suggest folks see a lawyer if they are thinking about leaving their husbands, etc. That's a long, complicated journey. Here, OP's done right by herself by getting court-ordered child support. She'll do right by herself by researching what else, if anything, is possible. If her child's father were employed, I would suggest recalculating the numbers since her health insurance costs have risen and they are an item in the child support calculator. |
Anonymous
| OP here. I have spoken to the MD Child Support people and I am eligible to have the monthly support award looked at every 3 yrs to see if I can get more support that way. I think I am going to do that since my insurance costs have gone WAY up in the last 3 years. Hopefully those costs will help the court increase the amount he owes every month. Now if there were only a way I could get to have to pay what he owes.... He owed money to the IRS so they took all of his tax refund so there just isn't much I can do now. So very frustrating!!! |
Anonymous
| Every THREE years? That's a shame! It should be more frequently, especially with healthcare inflation. I hope he starts working again soon, and resumes making payments. Good luck. You sound resourceful. |
Anonymous
| Besides court ordered child support, is my ex supposed to be paying for half of my child's education expenses and doctor bills? |
Anonymous
| Besides court ordered child support, is my ex supposed to be paying for half of my child's education expenses and doctor bills? |