Legal Question in Family Law in California

On the arrears you file a motion to fix arrears and arrearage payments, and an OSC re: contempt for failure to pay, and on the insurance. As for the other items, he is not obligated to pay support AND half of all expenses. Half of necessary school expenses, child care if necessary so you can work, and unreimbursed medical expenses are about all that can be ordered as "add ons" to the support amount. You are supposed to pay the rest out of your earnings (you are responsible for child support too, as expenses instead of a cash payment) and his support payment. And the add-ons are not automatic. They have to be in the support order. Going forward, you should file a motion to modify support to be heard concurrently with the children's attorney's motion to modify custody. Child support is based on actual earnings unless you ask the court to make a finding and the court makes a finding that the other spouse is voluntarily under-employed or unemployed. The court will then generally issue a "find work" order, leaving support at actual income as long as the other spouse is complying with the order to look for work, until the income actually changes. Only if the other spouse fails to try to find more income, or admits they are voluntarily under-employed or unemployed (think: following my dream to be a macrame artist, even though I have a Harvard MBA), will the "imputed" income be used. And you will have to hire an expert witness to prove what he could be earning.