Legal Question in Family Law in California
I am preparing to marry my boyfriend of 2 years. I make more than two times as much as he does annually (he grosses 80k, I gross 210K). He has a 10 year old daughter from a prior relationship and has her exactly 50% of the time and still pays his daughter's mother additional child support and her mother also claims the child on her taxes. They had this agreement finalized by the courts 9-10 years ago.
My question is, in the State of California, can the child support agreement be changed or increased if we get married given that I make more money? The initial agreement was drafted when they both made considerably less money and before I was in the picture.
2 Answers from Attorneys
That will, in fact, reduce his CS obligation, for one reason that now he is married and he shares more tax obligations than a single man; and two that your income will mean more tax he has to share as well. Tax obligation is shared 50-50 since your income will be considered community property.
Child support can always be modified given a change to the parties incomes or their share of custodial time. Child support will be based on your future husband's income - not yours. There is an exception for a parent who is found to be suppressing his income, then new spouse income can be taken into consideration. Also, if your fiance lost his income and the court did not remove his child support obligation - the support could be charged against the community's interest in your income. It an unlikely scenerio, but if you are worried about it, you could enter into a prenuptial agreement
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