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
1 Answer from Attorneys
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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