Legal Question in Family Law in Indiana

My fiance is wanting to take his ex-wife back to court to have a reduction in his child support. He has two children, an 8 year-old girl and a 5 year-old boy. He makes about $70,000 with bonuses. We think she makes about $37,000/year. He pays health insurance $15/week. And child care is $85/week. We have the kids 3 days/week. He pays $664 every two weeks.

My question is: Do we have to use a lawyer? She doesn't know we are going to try to have the child support reduced. Our concern is that she will step down from her management position so the support won't be reduced as much. If it is possible to take her back without using a lawyer with the proper paperwork and she is served with that paperwork, will that prevent her from stepping down at work?


Asked on 9/17/09, 2:24 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Jay Rigdon Rockhill Pinnick LLP

Sure, you can try to do this without a lawyer. It is also legal for me to try to overhaul my own automobile engine, but as I am not a mechanic, I have no right to be surprised if it does not work.

No one can be made to keep a particular job, but the courts can impute income from a higher paying job if the judge determines that a person quit to take a lower paying job just to improve their position on child support. You would neeed to properly present evidence of that to the judge.

Best advice? find a lawyer in your community for your fiancee so he gets this right. There are no "do-overs" for this kind of thing.

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Answered on 9/17/09, 2:37 pm

Hello:

My advice to you is to hire counsel since you are already aware that she may try to manipulate the situation. If she wasn't, you might and I say might be able to do this without counsel.

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Answered on 9/17/09, 2:50 pm


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