Legal Question in Family Law in California

Re: CA Child support calculation/schedule

Using only the salary info you provided, assuming your ex is unmarried and all wages are W-2 type, with a 30% visitation support is $499 and with 35% visitation support is $414.

Matthew Kremer

Law Offices of Matthew M. Kremer

9665 Chesapeake Drive, Suite 310

Re: CA Child support calculation/schedule

I'm licensed in Tennessee, NOT in California, but I am nearly certain the question of whether a California court would consider revising child support is going to depend on Claifornia law and not on Tennessee law.

GENERALLY speaking, a court in a new state will not modify child support unless you are there in the new state, but whether a court will try to claim it has jurisdiction over you because you have gone out there to pick up your son for visitation and therefore have voluntarily subject yourself to the laws of California is something I'll let a California practitioner answer.

Jes Beard

Attorney at Law

Chattanooga, Tennessee [email protected]

Jes Beard

Jes Beard, Attorney at Law

737 Market St., Suite 601

Re: CA Child support calculation/schedule

I'm licensed in Tennessee, NOT in California, but I am nearly certain the question of whether a California court would consider revising child support is going to depend on Claifornia law and not on Tennessee law.

GENERALLY speaking, a court in a new state will not modify child support unless you are there in the new state, but whether a court will try to claim it has jurisdiction over you because you have gone out there to pick up your son for visitation and therefore have voluntarily subject yourself to the laws of California is something I'll let a California practitioner answer.

But you said you have JOINT custody under the final Marital Dissolution Agreement (MDA), so you might well try to have the Tennessee court that handled the divorce originally reconsider matters and ask THAT judge to modify the order regarding custody. The court might well refuse to take the case, since the child has been living in CA for more than the last six months (the minimum for a state to get jurisdiction over child custody issues).

Also, since your ex- is denying you visitation you might also procede in Tennessee on a Petition for Contempt. Courts generally are reluctant to actually punish the parent who has physical custody, but I would still try to do that HERE and piggyback the Petition to Modify regarding visitation/custody at the same time instead of moving to California first thing. If the approach I suggest fails, THEN you might try the move to California, but that would be my SECOND step and not my first.

Jes Beard

Attorney at Law

Chattanooga, Tennessee [email protected]

Jes Beard

Jes Beard, Attorney at Law

737 Market St., Suite 601

Re: CA Child support calculation/schedule

The court in TN will have jurisdiction as long as you remain a TN resident. If you move to CA anything could happen. However, even though CA does not have jurisdiction to modify any orders from TN, the CA court does have jurisdiction to enforce the TN order. I think your best bet would be to try to get any modifications you need from a TN judge and then have a local lawyer in CA go into a CA court to enforce the order if needed.

Ken Koury

Kenneth P. Koury, Esq.

5807 Topanga Cyn Blvd., Suite G-201