Legal Question in Family Law in California

New spouse income is not considered in determining child support, it is only considered for determining the correct tax status of the parties and correct withholding (married filing ? vs. head of household or single). Summer camp is his responsibility, but he could pick them up from your home after work and return them to you the next morning and avoid summer camp altogether. Uninterrupted summer parenting time is for vacations generally.

Mr. White's answer seems contradictory, so let me explain a bit. The child support formula in the Family Code is so complex that courts and parties are required to use Judicial Council-approved software for the calculations. What the formula supposedly does is determine how much spendable income you have, and what portion of that you are obligated to spend on your children (whether you do or not). It is only the actual parents' incomes that are allocated, but if they remarry the new spouses income, and a number of other financial aspects of the new marital community, will affect the calculation. As Mr. White notes, the tax filing status changes. More importantly the marginal tax rate may change. You may also go from standard to itemized deductions. You may drop your employer's health insurance and take your new spouse's, or you may add your spouse to your insurance. All those things and more about your new spouse affect the formula. There is no way to really predict if they will push your particular numbers up or down until the new information is plugged into one of the approved programs. You can get help with what information needs to go into the program, and most likely use a public copy of the program, at the Family Law Pro Per Clinic at the San Joaquin Family Court - http://www.stocktoncourt.org/courts/family5.htm

As for the summer camp issue, you need to start with your order. If it says he is entitled to two weeks in the summer, he is entitled to use them as he sees fit. If he cannot take vacation time, he is allowed to put them in camp. If he must put them in camp or some other care situation while he is at work, he is entitled to ask for reimbursement of 1/2 of that. If that is not in your order, however, he technically must go to court to ask for it. At that time you can argue that you are entitled to eliminate that expense by caring for them yourself.