Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey

Hello. My name is Chelsea and I'm the mother to a beautiful baby girl named Carly. She is my first, however she is her father's 2nd child. A couple years ago her father went to court to try to get his case with his first daughter's mother lowered, but was denied with the reasoning of he wasn't legally paying child support for his 2nd daughter. However in the time since then he and I went to court to establish an amount to be paid for his 2nd daughter. The judges exact words (while going over the numbers) was "There really is not a whole lot I'm seeing left over (from his paycheck) for Carly, but we will see what I can do." He was able to come to a number that was just under half of what his other case received. Carly would get $50 a week, while his other daughter would get $110. I am not saying that I want the child support for Carly to be higher, but that I don't think its right for the number in his first case to be the same as it was, when now we do have another beautiful baby in the picture. My question would be if in the state of new jersey, if another child is born to the paying parent, would that be reason enough to have the first child support lowered? Another new factor is that the other child's mother is now working (she wasn't at the time they went to court), and has also since had another child with a different guy.


Asked on 8/02/13, 10:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Gleaner Robert A. Gleaner, P.C.

Whenever another child is born, this is a time of substantial change of circumstance and child support for the children may all be impacted. The Court would need to look at all of the circumstance for all parties involved, that is the income situation for each of the parents (mother and father) for each of the children and then make a determination. There is actually a line item on the Child Support Guideline Worksheet ("Other Dependent Deduction") which takes this into account. It does get complicated. So seeking the advice of an attorney is important.

Keep in mind that this advice is based purely on the little bit of information that you have given to me. There certainly may be other factors that would change my opinion. Further, no one can rely on advice from an attorney who has not been retained. Since it appears that you have not retained an attorney, you should contact a family law attorney to discuss your matter in more detail. Only then will you be able to rely on the advice. Feel free to call me at 856-546-8010. Your first one hour consultation is free. Good luck! Rob Gleaner

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Answered on 8/03/13, 6:03 am


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