Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri
Child support rights for dads.
My husband and I have 3 children, his (14), mine (11), and ours (2). His 14 year old daughter lives in MO. We live in SC. When he divorced they all lived in NC but the mother decided to move to St. Louis, MO. So the final paperwork was finalized in MO. At that time my husband like many fathers was going through alot of guilt and took on all the past marital debt, including a personal debt of almost 30,000 dollars. The child support he is paying I feel is way to high considering it was never adjusted now that he makes less money and he has been remarried and now has a larger family. He pays 553.00/mth and he makes only 325.oo/wk. plus a home to live in. We've been struggling to pay this for years and I don't know what we can do about it. Now I do know the childs mom makes good money and she doesnt do without. Also we've been told we are responsible for all travel expenses when she visits twice a year. I've heard that they should split it. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Child support rights for dads.
Since the existing Court Order is presumably from a Court here in Missouri (St. Louis?), any action to change it will need to take place in the same Court here in Missouri. I have handled hundreds of such cases, and in fact I have several clients in various states with cases going on here in St. Louis. To be brief, your husband may be well advised to file what we call a Motion to Modify. The ex-wife would be served and probably hire an attorney to represent her. In Missouri, we are required to calculate child support using Form 14 which calculates the amount of child support based upon various factors such as each parties gross montly income, any party's responsibility to support any other children in that party's custody, the cost of health insurance coverage for the child, any day care of other extraordinary expenses for the child, the amount of time the child spends with the non-custodial parent and so forth. In a Motion to Modify proceeding we can also address other issues such as visitation and sharing transportation costs for the child. If the ex-wife makes more now than she did at the time of the existing Order, and your husband makes less, it may very well be that he will save enough money in the long run to justify the expense of going to Court now.If your husband would like to call me for a free telphone consultation at 314-727-2822, I may be able to give him an idea whether it would be advisable to file a Motion and try to have the existing Order changed. I will not charge for the telephone call, but if he decides to proceed he will need to hire me first and provide me with all of the necessary information. I look forward to hearing form you or him, and in any event I wish you both the best of luck.
Re: Child support rights for dads.
In South Carolina, child support and visitation is subject to modification by the court. You may have to go to the mother's state of residence or the state which granted the divorce to get any relief. Consult a lawyer. Don't forget to take all of the divorce paperwork to the appointment. YOu need some professional advice.
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