Legal Question in Family Law in California

losing my job soon and should be receiving a severance package. ive told my daughters mother that child support will be reduced(cut in half) when i get laid off. she agreed(verbally). come to find out she heard how much i am receiving and cannot believe i am not able to pay my child support. is she entitled to that money? i heard all bonuses and such cannot be touched by the other party? do i need a lawyer to file a petition to modify CS? the court is in a different county and would like to avoid going there as much as possible.

thanks in advance!


Asked on 3/17/10, 5:01 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Bonuses are compensation and there is a lot of litigtion as to how certain they need to be in order for them to be counted in child support. The idea that they can't be touched is just not correct. As for severance, that will most likely be involved in determining when the support reduction takes place. It should not be counted in calculating future income. You can file the motion or OSC to modify support yourself, but not if you don't want to have to go to court. You will be hard pressed to find an attorney who will appear on a matter that you filed the papers in. Finding an attorney who will "ghost write" papers for you and you appear, is relatively easy, but standing up in court based on "amateur" papers is not something any attorney worth hiring would do.

Read more
Answered on 3/22/10, 8:37 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Family Law, Divorce, Child Custody and Adoption questions and answers in California