Legal Question in Family Law in California

You're not obligated to pay child support for your husband's children, but there could be a difference on how much he pays from his income based on the tax filing you may have as a married couple.

Ms. Kock is correct, but I need to add that because of community property laws, all community assets can be targeted to pay both community and individual debts. So if your husband is in arrears, the community property of your marriage is subject to that debt. Likewise, his community property interest in your income, while not directly garnishable, could be targeted once it reaches any joint account or asset. That is why lenders who are evaluating credit criteria may look at your husband's child support obligations in evaluating whether and on what terms to make a loan to you. If your husband is compliant with his support obligations with sufficient income to continue meeting the payments, this should have limited impact on your credit, but if he is or has been behind, and particularly if he has arrearage orders as well as the base obligation, creditors may count that as your debt as well for credit evaluation.