Legal Question in Family Law in Connecticut

There are a couple of ways to approach this. First of all, it is income. Having him pay your credit card bill doesn't turn it into something else. But that doesn't mean your ex doesn't have to pay child support. In the first place, unless the rent increases your income by at least 15%, there's no basis for a modification. Secondly, your ex can't unilaterally modify the child support; he has to file a motion in court, and if and when he does that the court can modify the child retroactive only to the date he files his motion. Thirdly, even if the rent does increase your income by more than 15%, that may not alter the child support by much. The mathematical formula used to calculate support is proportionalized to both your incomes, so that a 15% increase in your income probably won't result in a big change in the support number. Fourthly, when calculating income from rental property, you get to deduct expenses associated with the rental property. For example, if this were a 2 family house, your income isn't the rent paid by the guy living on the second floor; your income is the NET income, that is, the rent less half the mortgage, half the taxes, half the insurance, half the lawn mowing, etc. If this renter has use of half the house, you can deduct half the house expenses to arrive at the NET income; if he has use of 1/3 of the house, you get to deduct 1/3 of the expenses.