Child Support
By Kimisha
@Kimisha (1)
United States
May 2, 2008 10:14am CST
My fiance has a 6 yr old son with his ex-girlfriend. He spends between $8,000-$10,000 per year on child support to include food, clothing, education, and a monthly stipend of $200.00. The issue is the child lives one week with the father and the other week with his mother (this week he is living with his father). Hence he lives with his father 26 weeks and his mother 26 weeks out of the year. This is not a court order decision. The mother has been filing her income taxes and is getting a refund based on 100% earned income credit for the dependent child. My fiance informed me he always owes the IRS, recently had to enter into agreement with the IRS for installment payments for '06 taxes and has another bill for the '07 taxes. The mother has an older daughter by another father. So I am assuming the same goes for the other gent. Do you think it is reasonable for the father to take on all the responsibility knowing full well the son spends so much time with him?
5 responses
@rosettaresearch (1285)
• United States
2 May 08
This is an agreement he came to with the mother of his child. They chose to agree on the system rather than waste time and money in court. He is aware of the terms of the arrangement, including the taxes. If he did not like it, he could work out another agreement with the mother. Since he has chosen not to, he must be willing to take on the financial commitment of providing so well for his child. He should be commended for putting the needs of the child ahead of other concerns.
@janira1576 (17)
• United States
7 May 08
He should be commended for taking care of the child but she's getting money from him for when the son is with her but she should as well be giving him money for when the son is with him. And if she's claiming the son and not giving him half that money, like she should be, she is in the wrong. Its understandable that they don't want to go to court and all but he's giving alot to her and he's not getting any returns back, but she is.
@embattledsparkle (1072)
• United States
26 May 08
I think that if he is unhappy with the arrangement, he needs to try to talk to the mother about it. If she won't budge, then he might want to take it to court and get an offical order.
@janira1576 (17)
• United States
7 May 08
Do you and your fiance live together? If the son spends half 2 weeks with the dad and 2 weeks with the mother, the dad should be giving her $200 for 2 weeks that she has the son and the mother should be giving him $200 for the 2 weeks the son spends with the dad. It should be an equal thing. Why does your fiance always owe the irs, don't taxes come out of his check when he gets paid? Does he not file taxes yearly? Since the mother has claimed the son and gotten money back for him, your fiance should open his mouth and tell her that he should be getting half that money back yearly. He should give her the chance to do the right thing and then take her to court if she decides not to do the right thing. But the courts are going to ask him, did he get anything in writing? Did he agree that even thou they share him every month, he's only to pay her, not her pay him to and she's going to claim the son on her taxes and he not get anything back.
@qtfrog99 (279)
• United States
2 May 08
Sounds like they need to have the court rule on the decision, Kudos to him for being a man and stepping up but if they have a 50/50 visitation there should be no support needed. I am not a judge nor a lawyer but I do believe the court would see it that way too.
@taface412 (3175)
• United States
3 May 08
He needs to take her to court. But first get a good lawyer. And in the agreement they should settle to switch up every year on claiming the child as a dependent. I have a friend who does this with her ex. A good custody lawyer will be expensive, but may save him a headache in the long run. Plus, when you get married unless you file separately it could affect your income tax return as well. I found this out from the same friend...she has to wait on child support b/c his current wife could contest it. (of course he owed her back child support-so it is a little different on that part)
