Legal Question in Family Law in New Jersey

Re: Tax Exemption and Child Support

Apparently, you have come upon some arguments you did not make in court because you were ambushed by the judge's logic. You should make a motion for reconsideration immediately. You have twenty days from your receiving a copy of the judge's order to file this motion.

Call me if you like.

Gary Moore, Esquire

Hackensack, New Jersey

www.garymooreattorneyatlaw.com

Re: Tax Exemption and Child Support

Actually the Judge's logic is well placed. What he/she is trying to find out is how the change in the exemption will impact on both parties. You are correct that your ex's income also needs to be taken into consideration.

As to the Judge's comment concerning the increase in child support, this could happen. The reason is that a change in who gets the exemption changes the net income because the person who gets the exemption pays less taxes and therefore has a higher net income, which would give that person a greater ability to pay a higher child support amount. This could be easily demonstrated by running different scenarios on the Child Support Guideline Worksheets.

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 may want to contact a Family Law attorney (either me or someone else) to discuss your matter in more detail. Only then will you be able to rely on the advice. If you call me, mention Law Guru and your first one hour consultation will be free. Good luck! Rob Gleaner

Re: Tax Exemption and Child Support

I have read the response of both attorneys. There is some logic here, but overall, I think its just wrong. Income tax returns is almost never counted. If we are going to get into putting the tax returns back into the net income then we should look at everything for both parties instead of cherry picking certain items for one party and leaving everything out for the other party.