Legal Question in Family Law in Montana

Prior Child Support now have Autistic Son

I was divorced in 1998 and made regular child support payments until I

lost my job after 911. I was working in NYC and suffered post traumatic

stress disorder and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a disability. The

original child support order was in Texas but my ex wife immediately

moved to Montana. There have been no modifications to the original

order and I am in arrears. Now Texas indicates that that they are going

to turn the case over to Montana.

I now have a five year old autistic son which is expensive to take care of

and I am going back to work as a construction project manager. There

seems to be no limit in Montana to what my ex wife can collect for child

support regardless of my current autistic son's needs. If the jurisdiction

is changed to Montana, will this change automatically result in an

increase in my child support payment in addition to the arrears I owe

due to my increase in income? Is there an accurate method to calculate

my new child support payments....ie what is considered net income and

will the courts take into account expenses required to treat my autistic

son?

Thanks


Asked on 5/17/05, 6:58 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Carolyn J. Stevens CJ Stevens|Law

Re: Prior Child Support now have Autistic Son

You have several issues here.

First, when you became unable to pay your child support, you should have moved to modify your

child support obligation to prevent the arrearage from accruing at the old (higher) calculation.

The motion to modify would have affected either payments due from the date of the motion

forward or payments due from the date of the order forward, depending on your argument and (of

course) whether your argument prevailed. Even if you successfully move to modify now, the

order is unlikely to modify the arrearage.

Second issue is which state has jurisdiction in the child support matter. It could be that Texas in

�turning the case over to Montana� Texas as asking Montana to act as the collection agent while

Texas retains jurisdiction over the matter itself. It could be that Mom registered the Texas child

support order in Montana and asked Montana to modify it. You will know that from the recent

court and/or administrative documents you have received.

Third issue whether Montana will consider your �subsequent� children in its calculation. If

Montana recalculates child support for Mom, the calculation will consider other children for

whom you pay court-ordered support.Otherwise, the computer program does not ask how many

other children you have. [In extraordinary cases, the obligated parent can ask for a variance

from the calculated amount. The court decides that on a case-by-case basis.] Will a change in

jurisdiction result in a child support increase? I can�t know that without seeing the required

financial information for both parents. Yes, Montana has a computer program we use to

calculate child support, we have regulations to determine income.

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Answered on 5/17/05, 10:16 am


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