Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: Child Support Question

This is a great question! It raises many other questions and it does not always have a clear answer. Some of the other questions it raises are: Is he on SSI or SSD? (It makes a difference). How long has he been on SSI and how long has your duaghter been receiving a check? Does he have a court order directing him to pay child support? (Assuming there is a court order out there) since the time that order was made has he then started receiving the SSI or was he receiving it when the court order was made? i.e., did the judge know at the time that the dad was disabled? Is he working part time or working for cash under the table? If he is working for cash under the table - can you prove it or is it something you know but something that you cannot prove?

The law is quite clear that one of the definitions of "income" are social security benefits. To that end there is a clear path for arguing that someone who is on social security should have that money counted as income and then child support be set accordingly. What is not clear is how to deal with the issue of the money your daughter may be receiving. And, of course, if he is working for cash under the table how do you get that information in the court record so the judge can use it to consider all of dad's income for child support purposes. There are cases that have gone both ways in counting the money that your daughter is getting as being applied to the child support due and some say no, it does not. Some judges will look at the overall circumstances and then rule accordingly. So, considering the questions I brought to your attention above and the wishey washy sort of, kind of, maybe answer of this paragraph you can see that it really 'just depends' on the circumstances of your specific case.

A visit to your friendly local lawyer's office will get you a pretty clear answer for your specific case. If you do not know of a lawyer to go see then look at some of my past answers to other questions on this bulletin board about how to go and find a lawyer.

Good luck.