I think in general, CS for second child is lesser % of income than first, under general state rules. Why deviation? If you are already under deviation, the wording should govern, but appears to me unclear. Is deviation less or more than state %? If more, I would suggest DH try to discuss with BM? If less, I would not hope for getting 1/2 reduction.

In the final divorce decree, DH agreed to pay MORE than the state guidelines. He pays about 20% more than the state would have mandated, for the interest of SSs.

It is absolutely impossible to negotiate with BM. She is very greedy and lives completely on the support. We could offer a bit more, but it will never be enough for her. Better to let a judge handle it.

Question is, if left to the court to decide, will they reduce the support when SS1 turns 18? If so, does anyone know about how much, or do state guidelines determine this?

There is no way for anyone to predict what the court will do. Only an attorney can advise you on what the court is likely to do but even an attorney can't say for certain what the court WILL do.

If he is paying more than the court order states, then he can drop it down and only pay what the court order says and do what he wishes with the difference. He is only obligated to pay what is on the court order. The wording you gave in OP says that the support only continues if he is a high school student, not college. If he is going to graduate soon, your DH will want to start modification proceedings 1-2 months before the graduation date so the last month he has to pay is either the month his child turns 18 or the month he graduates HS.

Nobody can answer the question of what the court will change the order to... that would depend on the current circumstances. Your DH may make more or less money now than he did when the order was made. They may or may not attribute income to BM since she doesn't work... he could argue that she COULD work but chooses not to & they might impute wages to her. It may also depend on how much actual time your DH spends with the kids now compared to then... lots of variables & it would be impossible for anyone here to give an answer to your question.

Ima, it appears that Dad agreed to more in divorce decree. Once that amount is incorporated in legal document, even if that is above state guidelines, I do not think he can unilaterally decrease amount; he must go to court.

Yes, he agreed to more IN the decree, and pays exactly that amount.

Someone told us that when there is more than one child, that the support doesnt go down, even when one reaches 18. Their rationale was that "expenses, like rent and electric, continue, and you can't just cut those in half".

That concerned us, as we want to redirect some $ to college if we can.

Our attorney will petition for a modification abotu 3 months in advance, which is this April. We just are worried that the judge will keep the support exactly the same.

In my state, CS is figured on % of income. Minimum (unless agreed upon by both parties) of 20% and a maximum of 50%. So if the NCP has 20 kids, the State can only mandate 50% of the NCP's income go to CS.

But since he agreed on more in the decree, those guidelines don't apply. Ima is right, though, that only an attorney can advise you on that.

If I were in your shoes, I would do what Ima said, and have the CS modified to the minimum, since it is for 1 child, and send the rest to college on your own (or direct deposit into special account for SS1).

The sucky thing is you'll still have to go to court. Yuck!

Is the XX amount in the sentence you provided the amount for one child or for all?

I'm amazed at the simplisty of what statement says (and more to the point, what it does not say)...a semitruck could drive around in that statement with lots of room to spare. And am also a bit surprised it all ends at the age of 19 as in one of the postings OP wrote recently was on additional education. Anyway....

I think the important thing after the lawyer approaches the court for mods is to be sure that the homelife of the still minor child does not drop, that should be high on dad's concerns even if legally only X is required as CS. I'd want to be sure the little extras for the child can still be met and I'd want something about higher education included on this time round.

KKNY: $1600 per month is for BOTH SSs. Does that mean judge will view EACH kid as $800? what I am hearing is that is unlikely. It would more likely be something like $1000 per month, not reduced by half.

Oh, BM also gets "spousal support". Fortunately, it is non-modifiable and has an end date (2 yrs from now)

I have been reading that judges are starting to hold "voluntarily unemployed" exs more accountable.

As others have noted, the drafting here is poor. Mom may argue that it was one amount, all or nothing. I doubt it will get reduced in half. In todays economy, I think "voluntarily unemployed" may be a difficult case to make, especially for someone who hasnt been working. All you can do is wait and see.

Most states use a formula that vary from state to state. I agree the only way to resolve it is going to court to get an order for the 'correct' legal amount for one child. It is not cut in half and will be recalculated based on today's situation. The guideline amount when the order was made was based on information from that time.. things change.

If there is an end date to the spousal support, then BM is probably going to be expected to be working or doing something to become self sufficient and if she has not, it will not reflect good for her. The courts do seem to be cracking down on 'voluntarily unemployed' parents... and it makes his case better if he's paying spousal support with the intention that she become self supporting (based on the end date). Even in this economy, the court may deem income to her at the rate of minimum wage. Children have the right to be supported by BOTH parents and it would also be in BM's best interest to get a job because eventually the spousal support will end & the kids will reach majority... then what will she do? The court may also consider that in it's decision... but there is no argument that the amount of child support is for all or nothing when there are two kids. In every child support order I have seen, it is specified how much is for each child. If it was an agreement by the parties, then it should have been specified half for each or what percentage is for what kid... but absent that, the court will calculate a new amount and as kkny said, all you can do is wait & see. If dad's income is greater, then it could stay the same or increase. There are online calculators that can give you an idea but there is no way to know for sure what will happen until all the evidence is presented and a Judge makes a ruling.

Of course, if he gets along with his ex he could try to negotiate a new agreement and save the attorney fees and hassle of going to court.

Now that IMA mentions the calculate tools, I was just running madeup cases in my state's tools for CS (online and for general usage of examples) and reading their guides. Big differences and the intital guidelines were just that , a starting point. My state started at freshly going in one child 20%, 2 kids at 28%, but after that it all just depended.

Anything from healthcare, eduaction funds, amount spent in each home for basics, other income sources, amount going to additional support of other kids in different settings blah blah all took into consideration and bottomline was judge ruling.

OK, I just completed the on-line worksheet for our state! I used the actual worksheet DH's attorney used, and inflated those numbers to reflect todays reality (DH salary,etc) What I noticed in filling it out was that the atty DIDNT deduct the spousal support from his monthly income, AND she didnt ADD the spousal support to her monthly income! So, I just found quite an error. Basically, DH is paying about $300 over the state guidelines for 2 children. So, when I recalculated for 1 child, based on state guidelines and factoring in spousal support, it came to about half of what he pays now.

Oh, his attorney also didnt deduct what he is paying for the cost of health insurance, and that can also be taken off the top.

BM dragged their divorce on for over five years, so DH basically was ready to sign anything in the end.

Since spousal support is capped and is NON-MODIFIABLE in the decree, I think we should go full guns to get the CS to match state guidelines.

Especially since we want to re-route the funds for SS1 directly to a school or an account for SS1's benefit.

I bet that BM doesnt work because she knows that her salary will drag down the child support. In the end, she is hurting herself because by not having some work experience, it will be that much harder to find a way to pay her expenses when she needs to.