Confused about Child Support Laws in TN

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WestTN

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My husband has had 50/50 split physical and legal custody of his 11 year old son for the last 2 and a half years. He lives with us 2 wks and then his mother 2 wks. Currently, my husband is the only breadwinner in our home and we have 4 children (counting stepson) - the mother and her husband both work, they receive support on a child he has custody of and they only have 3 children (again, counting stepson.) When we won the split custody (coming from the mother having sole custody) the judge told my husband there were no guidelines for that sort of thing and the best he could do was to cut my husband's support due in half since the mother would be caring for him only half the time. That may SOUND okay but as we pay for his care in our home half the year and also carry insurance on him and pay 100% of all school and extracurricular activity fees I don't see how we should be paying her any money. From the "get go" they have more money than we do what with more money incoming and less children to spend it on. We have reached the breaking point with this issue and are considering taking her back to court to see if we can have the support thrown out altogether. Do you think this will be considered? Is there somewhere that we can get one of these "worksheets" that our lawyer has mentioned to us (but tells us he doesn't have access to??) Our lawyer seems befuddled, the judge who made the decision was obviously confused on the matter and, further, has been replaced in the last election. To compound matter the Child Support office seems perfectly willing to help her harass us but will not give us any information about whether this situation can be rectified. I am tired of looking at our 3 other kids and wondering how we are going to pay for their needs when we have to basically care for stepson in TWO homes!! Please help, or point me in the direction where I might find some advice!
 
Have you looked up your state's child support guidelines? I don't know if they have specific things on your situation.

Good Luck.
 
CS is based off of income and parenting time. Since mom does not work and even if guidelines allowed a full time income be inputed for her, your husband probably will owe her some support since he makes more. I do not know whether TN guidelines take subsequent children into consideration for a reduction.

On another note, moms husbands income does not come into play here, so what he makes probably does not matter.

Your and your husband have more kids, now you both have to support them. You will have to google your states guidelines to see what your husband should be paying but he likely will owe mom some support, even if its a smaller amount.

I realize money is tight in your home, but you can always get some employment as well and not totally expect your husband to cut off support to the other child. I realize he has 50/50 custody and he might qualify for a reduction, he also might not and already might be paying the minimum.
 
Since mom does not work and even if guidelines allowed a full time income be inputed for her, your husband probably will owe her some support since he makes more.

Thank you for the information but I think you misread my post. The mom and her husband BOTH work plus recieve child support on another child in their home. My point was that if both parents work and have him an equal amount of time I am wondering why EITHER parent would owe support? Should they not just pay for the things in their own home and split extras like ball fees/ school fees/ etc...? I am just confused why we have less income, more outgoing and still owe her money though she does less towards the child's overall upkeep. The judge didn't seem familiar with this type of situation at all and sort of "winged" it on his decision for support. I was curious if there is a worksheet or something that we can look at ourselves and see where we stand before we make a stink over this. As for my becoming employed we still have two not in school. My youngest ones will go to school next year and I WILL be going back to work but until now it would have cost me to work due to daycare fees. Not to mention that we have NO reputable daycare centers here only sitters who keep kids in their homes.

One other quick question - on the link given above one of the item reads that if a parent is "willfully unemployed or underemployed" then they can input additional income. The mom works in a factory and when she works she makes around $16 an hour (this was a few years ago, no idea if she's received increases since then.) However, the company is declining and she has spent 90% of her time the last 3.5 to 4 years laid off. She draws the unemployment until it runs out and then is just w/o paycheck until they begin calling employees back. I don't think she has gone more than a month w.o unemployment though. But my question is wouldn't this be considered willfully underemployed? I mean she could go somewhere else and get steady work, she isn't disabled nor is she a primary caregiver for someone who is....So could they input her income for the full pay she would be receiving were she to obtain a steady job? I really don't understand why they couldn't, other people in her plant go and get temporary jobs or leave completely when they find a full time job somewhere else. Just because she doesn't want to shouldn't be held against us should it? My husband couldn't find a steady job here and he has to commute to work but he knew he had to get a paycheck to support his family and did what it took to do so.
 
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