Legal Question in Family Law in California

I completely understand why you are confused about child support, since it's incredibly tricky and sometimes (like in your situation) very vague.

You've asked a lot of questions, so let me see if I can get to most of them in the order asked.

First of all, child care is for daycare/babysitting expenses only. Preschool, pictures, t-shirts, field trips, etc. do not count.

Regarding medical care, I can almost guarantee that you orders also include a requirement that all out of pocket medical expenses not covered by insurance are to be equally divided. There should be something called a Notice of Rights and Responsibilities attached to your order if it's not specifically stated. The Notice is all boilerplate writing, and it will have that obligation listed under there. So while they're not technically childcare expenses, your fiance does need to pay for one-half of these costs. That being said, your fiance has very good health insurance with the military, and if she is routinely bringing the child to places which are covered by insurance, you can seek an order that insurance be maximized in order to minimize costs.

There isn't really a set requirement on how often statements are due for childcare, although medical expenses are different (look at the Notice of Rights and Responsibilities for that). If you'd like it every month or every quarter, you can ask for a specific order requiring such.

Your statement dating back to 9/06 indicates that his case is going through the Department of Child Support Services and/or the State Disbursement Unit. You can request an updated "audit" or statement from them, and you should be receiving monthly statements as to your owed amount. There is no way I can tell you how much you owe without documentation.

As advice for the future, should your fiance ever become unemployed again, get him in immediately to file for a modification of support. Otherwise his child support obligation continues running even though it should be lower due to his unemployment. Due to that, unfortunately he is obligated to pay the ordered support during his period of unemployment.

As for a current downward modification of support, child support is based on 2 main factors: time spent with the child and both parents' incomes (not yours, even after you marry). You will want to work with an attorney to run the figures for you, but my guess is that his joining the Navy will only increase his support. I know it doesn't seem fair, but your fiance's base salary is not the only income included--his BAS, BAQ, conus cola, and any other non-taxable income he receives is also used for calculating child support. This means that while he earns very little taxable money, he earns a lot more non-taxable money, and that will hurt him greatly on a guideline child support calculation because it's based off of net income. He will be paying very little in taxes, and so nearly everything he earns will be used for that calculation.

As for a clear determination of childcare, that could be possible. I would suggest requiring receipts and cancelled checks as well. It's nearly impossible to ensure that babysitters are only used for work/school, and you can't require that they be certified--if you were to do so, that would likely just hurt you in the long run anyway, since they're more expensive. You can ask the Court to require her to apply for state aid, and you might be successful.

You obviously have a lot of concerns and questions, and when you have this many issues, an attorney is usually the best way to go. Best of luck.