Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
My question is regarding child support. I have been with my husband for 10 years. We got married 2 years ago. His last child support order was made before we got married. We were living together, but not married.
When that order was made, my income was not considered. His amount was based solely on his salary & with the mother being unemployed, they based her income on what she had the potential to earn if she was working.
My husband changed jobs a few weeks ago & is earning $1 less/hour & his ex is threatening to take him back to court for an increase in support. She stated that she'd spoken with her lawyer & that my income would be taken into account on a new order in addition to his.
I know that involvement of stepparents is often frowned on in the courtroom. I've never participated in their hearings & I don't get involved in their issues. I guess the idea strikes me as being very unfair to me as the stepparent. The courts often frown on stepparents participating or having any word in any part of the hearing, but they would take my own income into consideration to determine an amount to be paid to support someone else's children.
His ex is known to make things dramatic & blow things up to be bigger than they are. It's hard to take her at her word. I'm curious to know, in the state of Virginia, will a judge make me pay to support their children?
1 Answer from Attorneys
So, you rely on mere hearsay from an adversarial party for
your legal advice pertaining to your husband's child support case
for which you have no responsibility?
Yes, that's right, in Virginia a person in your particular situation can have
no legal responsibility for the support of children fathered by your husband from a previous relationship and therefore your income cannot be factored in
any way, shape or form into the income shares formula that is used under the
Virginia Child Support Guidelines to calculate your husband's child support
obligation in the case described.
Bottom Line: What you've allegedly been told is flat out WRONG.
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