If he hurt himself at work, will he get workmans compensation?

he is only going to get what amounts to temp disability which is only 60% of his average pay.. but he just switched to part time which would have covered cs and a few important bills so that we could compensate for daycare during the summer (ie he could watch the kids that way) and give him an opportunity to start up a new career... So, with only 60% of that coming in... it wont cover cs and will leave us in an incredible bind... I can cover the incredible bind because I am safe that way... but I cant cover his cs

He should file for a modification right away or if BM is sympathetic, get her to sign a written agreement to lower it temporarily. (until he recovers) The written agreement might be better for her if it's 'temporary' because if he files to modify and it gets lowered because his income dropped, she would have to file to modify later when his income goes up. Overall, I think a written agreement is the best way to go if possible because it eliminates a need for lawyers and court costs and it's a lot faster than submitting income & expense declarations and waiting for a hearing. If she won't agree to lower amount, then get that modification files ASAP because until the order is changed, usually he has to pay the full amount, even if he isn't working.

BM sympathy depends on her mood of the hour basically... So, I guess we are stuck in the position of going through a midofication hearing?? I cant believe they dont have temporary arrangements for things like this... I swear the more I get into family law .. the more it makes me want my law degree so I can try to fight to change things !!!!!

A friend of ours is disabled (needs a few surgeries, will likely be able to work after he gets them and rehabilitates) and the court refused to reduce his child support. They actually jailed him at the modification hearing for contempt of court (he was already behind because he'd been out of work a few months). He was in jail with another guy who lost his job. The court refused to adjust his support amount and then jailed him when he was 2-3 months behind.

The court's attitude was that the children's needs are not on hold while the parent is going through whatever they are going through.

Around here, you have to be a real deadbeat (way behind and consistently not paying) to get jailed for it. They don't jail you for asking for a modification and it's always better to be current on your support anyways.

The down side to asking for a modification is that if his income is more than at the time of the original order or if her income is less or if the children spend more time with her, any of those things could end up causing an increase order. It can be tricky.

If you know the correct information, you can find online child support calculators. I've included a link for CA, but I know there are others too. They are not 100% accurate to what the court will order but it can give you an idea about how much it may change.

Here is a link that might be useful: Califoria Child support calculator

I am just scared with all of the ups and downs with her .. and the risk of court battles for custody.. that even a moment of not paying will play to major a factor in a decision that might otherwise be decided in favor of dad.

I told DH what I have read so far and he is considering approaching her.. but part of me thinks that is a mistake and will be something that she will use against him in the future... I guess I can always take a second job but it is just so frustrating to think that the courts dont even want to consider the possibilities of life. I mean if they were still married they would have to make cut backs to afford this kind of thing happening... why should it be different just because they are divorced? I can understand a guy just not taking a job bc he doesnt want to pay cs and all but he is working with work mans comp.. he was hurt at work.. he has the papers to prove it.. why would they not want to consider it ?? I am going to have nervous breakdown :-)(

Call your local court and ask them if they have a family law adviser. In CA, there is one in each county (I'm pretty sure anyways). They would be able to give you a better idea about what the court might do, although any good lawyer will tell you how unpredictable courts can be.

unfortunately ... a good lawyer is hard to find and even when we do find one it is way beyond what we can afford

If you are married and one parent has a temporary cut in pay, the children don't stop eating and the mortgage doesn't go away. If I were temporarily unable to work, the child support I receive wouldn't increase, even though it is partially based on our relative incomes.

Worker's comp is not taxable, nor is disability income if the recipient paid the premiums, according to what I have read. I think the sixty percent figure also takes into account the fact that some expenses, such as gas, are less if you are not working.

In my state, if either parent were to voluntarily work part-time, the courts might impute full-time income. It is very important if you are working for yourself to have short-term disability insurance to replace self-employment income, whether you are married to your children's parent or not.

"If you are married and one parent has a temporary cut in pay, the children don't stop eating and the mortgage doesn't go away."

While this is true, if my husband or I were to become temporarily disabled, we would most certainly not eat, go out and shop the same as we do when we are both working. If a married couple has a cut in pay, you obviously have to cut back on spending. Would you live on credit cards to maintain your lifestyle if your income dropped? If you did, then you'd be foolish and have to work even harder to get caught up. That's just common sense.

Kids don't stop eating, but they can go from steak to hamburger if they need to.

Is there a way to make partial payments? Does mom pay for childcare costs while she works? Would she be open to bringing the kids to stay with dad while she works since we will be home, thus eliminating childcare? Are there any other ways you can offer support that isn't monetary but will ease the overall financial burden?

If I were to become temporarily disabled, I would not make my children suffer if there were any way to avoid doing so. If I spent any discretionary income on myself, I would stop doing so. I would not take my child out of martial arts classes (not that I could anyway, because I signed a contract that did not have a provision for not paying if I were out of work for a few months). I would definitely live on credit cards to keep my child from suffering any hardship. If I were on disability long enough, it might be unavoidable. In the short term, though, there are very few things related to the children that you could give up, because so much is a long-term commitment. You can't take them out of college or private school or martial arts or soccer for four weeks if you have already signed up for it. Short term discretionary spending is such a minor part of child-related expenses that cutting those would have only a minor impact. I suppose you could delay a haircut or a weekly trip to McDonald's, but that really isn't going to help very much. (And hamburger is almost as expensive as steak in my local grocery store). If I were to cut out all discretionary spending on my children for the next four weeks, except for those things that I had already contracted to do, I might save ten dollars a week max on each of my two kids at home.

Just to be clear about my original post, I have never heard of someone being jailed for requesting a modification. It wouldn't happen. But in some states they take default (being behind) very seriously and if they get their mitts on your (at a modification hearing you request only after falling behind, for example), they can jail you for contempt of court.

I assume he will collect worker's comp? Worker's comp is 2/3 of gross income, I believe. And it is not subject to federal taxes, or state, so you need to factor that it. There may not be enough of a difference between his regular income compared to worker's comp (factoring in the tax beenfits) for the court to make an adjustment.

mom of 4,

I think the best thing to do is to try to work something out with BM. Or you can file for modification, but that is tricky as Imamommy stated. You are taking the risk that the modification amount could be higher. There is nothing safe walking into court.

The way I've seen it work around here is that even if you lost your job or on disability, the courts will not lower the amount. When they go through modification they use the amount that the NCP used to make to calculate cs owed.

Additionally, I do want to add something here about the argument that if they were married they would have to do without. To me, that is one of the benefits of marriage. Mom and Dad are not married anymore. It is what it is. He still owes support, it would be nice if BM could be lenient but she doesn't have to. And not all BM's are feeding their kids steak and lobster for dinner. Most BM's that I know and work with have their own problems and cannot afford to take a lesser amount of cs. And it isn't their problem. It would be nice, like I said but not all could afford to do that or should be made to juggle their own bills because the cs is not being paid or being the current amount.

BM hardly works at all ... maybe two days a week three on a good week so she has no need for child care and we already take the kids any time that there is a need for child care.(Actually we had to demand it because she was having her BFs ex wife watch the kids who lives all of five minutes away from us... another one of her tricks to try and keep the kids away from us) As I said before the reason why he switched to part time was to adjust for the need for daycare for over the summer which was BMs current complaint (that we needed to pay for daycare for the summer which just was not even close to pheasible for three kids plus the one we have at home...not that she really works so I couldnt figure out why she needed daycare in the first place but that is beside the point) And no, the kids dont stop eating but part of the problem in the first place is that we do pay the child support and yet we also end up paying for everything else on top of it. My biggest headache right now is that I know that that will continue despite him being out of work... Last year he had a cyst (the kids were still living with us fulltime then therefore no support) and he had no income coming in. When the school year came around he talked to her about what they were going to do about getting school clothes and school supplies ... her attitude was not her problem... so I bought everything for the kids. Shortly after that she decided she wanted them back with her and started playing her games of keeping the kids away from us and got the cs deducted from his paycheck almost immediately (after more than two years of them living with us full time with no support from her and having to argue with her just to get her to visit her kids...hmm could it have been about the money since her newly found BF has four kids with different mamas and was paying a ton of support and needed the money too ?? ) ...long roller coaster story some of which I have already told but long story short... With him being out of work and even if she does get the full amount of cs she wont step up and do what needs to be done for the kids... we will still have to foot the bill on top of coming up with cs that we simply do not have. I guess it is a no win scenerio here. I told DH I could see about getting a 2 job for a small amount of time... but he was adamantly against that ... he doesnt want me to have to take a second job to pay her to sit on her but most of the week doing a whole lot of nothing... but I think I am going to veto him on this. He is hurt it is not like he can do anything about that... he has to have surgery (which in his macho mindset of trying to take care of everyone he is thinking he can just say no to and deal with the pain...yeah right) And, I am absolutely not willing after I have worked so hard to get us in a good place financially to risk everything now.

I did not know that workers comp didnt take out taxes so that is a little more money that I can count on. I was working with our budget all night last night and trying to see what can go and what has to stay...Like I said I was smart enough to put money aside for a rainy day and well it is about to be pouring...

And I still think that it is a bunch of crap that courts wont take into consideration being hurt and/or ill. These things happen in life and should be taken into consideration. I mean what if he was in the hospital for an extended time because he had cancer or something... I am sorry but yes BM should have to tighten the purse strings and deal with it .. same as if she were sick or hurt we would have to do the same. I absolutely think that regardless if they can afford it, it should happen ...everyone should be working together for the kids ...not dad sacrificing everything he has to support the kids... epsecially with a BM who chooses not to work a fulltime job... or really a standard part time job... the occasional two days a week to me just does not count.

If the money is coming out of your husbands check, then it is going through support offices You will accumulate arreages, unless you file for modification.

Once you actually file, the new amount would be adjusted to the day that you first filed, so you would be protected there.

THe judge will probably make an order that while recovering from the surgery and not working, the child support will be reduced by x amount, but will resume when a full return to work is possible. If the judge feels that you can maintain your current level of support even while not working, no reduction will be granted.

However, if your husband's order is currently paying less than the guidelines would allow for support, I would hesitate to take it to court. Your support would likely be adjusted to guideline amount, and your husband would pay more in the long run.

okay, another question ... if it is coming out of his check now will it come out of his workers comp check ?? or will he need to pay it to the child support office on his own??

To be honest CS is a little new to us since he and then we had the kids pretty much since they divorced and up until she decided she wanted the kids back ... we never got anything from her ...oh I am sorry she gave us 300.00 one time and then tried to get us to pay her back after she took the kids back... yeah right... she finally stopped asking when DH sent her an email saying that money went to the support of our children while they were living with me for 3 years with no child support of any kind from you.

And, my daughters father died when she was two and previous to that I didnt accept money from him I only asked he helped with things directly concerning our daughter like diapers and formula then shoes food child care and so on...

So, CS is a little bit of foreign territory except what I have read about so far.

I know that in CA, child support is taken directly out of state disability benefits (only up to 25% of the benefit) but with worker's comp., it depends. When he gets his first check, I'd check the stub and see if it was deducted. You should be able to contact whoever is handling his claim. If it's not taken out of his check, then he'd have to pay the CS office directly.

Can they order the child support to be drafted from the bank? I wouldn't like that at all, especially if it was a joint account and was not my child. If I were to me married I would keep my money separate, but there's no chance in h*** I would remarry. LOL

I don't really understand why it is a huge problem if he is only out for four weeks or so. Unless he was earning six figures (in which case there should be plenty of money), it is not all that much money. Even if he had to pay taxes on it, losing 40% of $1000 a week, for instance, would be only $1600 - similar to what an unexpected root canal or new transmission for the car would cost. I don't think the courts would think those emergencies would justify a modification in the support amount.

The huge problem is, as I have said, that he already switched to part time a while ago. So, when they calculate his average pay it will be at part time which was already half of what he was making but still able to take care of child support and what bills he needed to cover... and CS is 2/3 of his income so if he loses another 40% off of what he is now making... the money simply is not there. And he by far does not make 1000.00 a week. And sometimes for some folks missing a day is a lot of money so missing four weeks is still alot of money. And, that is not even taking into consideration that I will have to somehow come up with the money to pay for the health insurance that would have come out of his check (and eats up another chunk of his money) At the end of the day there isnt much of his check left between the two so anything taken away from that is not good for us. And, it is a minimum of 4 weeks that he will be out... there is no gaurantee that it will only be four weeks...there is always the possibility of complications and what not.

I make more money than my husband in general so I have always been the primary bread winner in the family. With the addition of cs being taken out of his check towards the end of last year ... that meant I bring a lot more money into the house than he does. That is why when someone needed to make adjustments to their schedule and/or work less it was him... we calculated what he needed to work to cover cs and a few other expenses and made the decision to have him stay home because BM wanted to put the kids in daycare and for us to pay for it and that was simply not an option. Now, we have run into him being injured so what was already a minimalized check is in the red so to speak because taking away another chunk of money means everything is not going to be covered period.

If your husband has only been working part time, I would really hesitate to take this and ask for modification. They are likely to impute full time wages to him, because working part time is a choice ( in their opinion)

Is there some family member you can borrow the child support from for the month?

Of course, the alternative is to get arrears and then pay them off slowly when you can.

I am sorry things are so tight for you right now. Health issues suck.

I basically needed to know what my options are... which now that I know there arent really any we will go with what we got...

And, I thank everyone for their knowledge on this since as I said CS is a little bit new to us.

Its been over a month since hubby has recd a CS check ... the first 3 weeks were rough getting used to them not coming .... but we have adapted our budget to reflect not getting that money.

BM hasn't made a payment since the last week in March and will not be making any voluntary payments until who knows when ... DOR is taking any tax refunds and her "stimulus" check but they take 45 days to clear after they receive them so it will be atleast 6 weeks until he "might" get a check.

But you are in a tougher spot because they take it from him right? you just might want to file for a temporary modification if its longer than the 4 weeks. Its not like you can just pay a portion of it and let the rest go to arrears. BM was going to ask her BF to pay her support for her, hubby told her not to worry about it for now ... but if it gets to be 2 months without any help then she will have to do something to help him out.

Wouldn't it be nice if workman's Comp screws up and forgets to remit the payment 2 weeks or something :).

I'd LOVE to get my ex's tax refund or stimulus check... lol

I don't think he's filed taxes in 15 years... ????

Makes me wonder how he & his wife live and support 4 kids

I think your best option here is to be pro-active and go to friend of the court before bm does and file for a temporary modification of support until your husband is able to get back to work. I think they still will take the cs out of his workers comp but maybe they will take a look at the amount since he is limited in his ability to earn right now.

Good luck & hope your DH heals quickly.