Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania
Suspending child support in the summer
My husband and his ex-wife share custody of my stepson equally in the summer months (50/50). In the past he has paid her child support in the summer while maintaining custody 50/50. However due to financial hardship he can not afford to pay her child support this summer and have him equally. When the custody aggreement was made 3 years ago they also signed a notorized letter stating that they would split the time in the summer equally. My question is what are the chances the court will suspend child support in the summer months since we share him equally with her (the court is in Philadelphia PA, however my husband and I live in NJ)? If they are unwilling to temporailty suspend child support for the summer months can we ignore the notorized letter which was my husband's idea in the first place?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I need to speak with your husband, not you, because of t=ethical reasons. In general, the child support guidelines already take into account the fact that your husband sees the children about 30% of the time throughout the year. If your husband spend more time with the children, perhaps the child support should be adjusted downward.
The notarized letter is meaningless. Custody and support are determined by the court. Oh, the parties can make any agreement that they want, but it is the court order which will decide if and when one of the parties no longer wants to abide by whatever agreement they drew up.
My advice would be to tell your husband yto consul with a Pennsylvania family law attorney to see what the options are. If financial circumstances have changed, then maybe your husband needs to file a petition to modify the child support order in general throughout the year and not just because of the summer.
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