Child Support & My (the Spouse)'s Income
I have a question, and hope you can offer me some suggestions.
My DH has three children besides our's together, He pays Child Support to three different states. I work and he works (but he has a difficult time staying at a job for more than 6 months due to a medical condition). When we got married (I was nieve/dumb) I was debt free so I cleaned out my savings, investments, and retirement accounts, forfitted tax return $ and did some creative barrowing to pay off his debts and Child Support arrears to get and keep him current.
Now 5 years later we are debt free again and except for the 30yr house mortgage we just started, I wonder is there anything I can do legally to save/reduce some of my income. Because I make double his income (I worked 2 jobs through college to get my degree prior to marriage), when they add my income to his they take over 100% of his income to pay CS.
I am going to sound like a _________; but it really hurts that my income is considered as heavily as it is, when they figure out his child support. I was nieve and paid off all his debts thinking it would get us on a better standing but now everyday feels like I am carrying a 75 lb rock over my head. I fear every day that one of the mothers is going to ask for a Child Support review and even though our income has not changed, that I will have to figure out how to squeeze more money from our budget, because of increases in the amount of the CS do to cost of living changes. I work really hard and every time I pay the bills I wish there was a way for him to be able to provide even a little bit to our family.
I was wondering if I need to talk to a special kind of lawyer, financial planner, or tax specialist. We have little/no money set aside for retirement because we used it to clean up the mess. My DH is 20 years from retirement age, but due to his medical condition I realize he may have to stop working sooner and I will be placed in a position where he will not be able to provide any family support, including pay his CS so that will fall on my shoulders 100%.
Is there anything I can do besides just counting the years until the youngest one turns 19?
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