Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
Would my support be to be lowered if the mother signs an agreement
The mother and I are trying to settle our custody matter out of court because our child is going to be starting school this year, and the order that is in place needs to be modified because the mother lives where the child would have to go to school either with me or with her, and I am willing to let the mother have our child for the school and everything that we have written down we are agreeing on. But their is the matter of support in which I asked the mother if she would be willing to lower my support from $300 to $100 a month so that I can be able to purchase a new vehicle because the one that I have is not going to be very safe for our child in the near future because it has over 200,000 miles on it. The mother agreed that she didn't like our child riding in it also, and agreed to lower the support to what I asked for the time that it takes me to be able to pay the vehicle off, then it would go back up to the current order. and in return the mother will be able to file our child on her taxes. We put it in writting and both of have signed it. My questions are, would the Judge allow it and would the DCSE allow it? And if they did could she change her mind in the future before i have paid it off and try to get it raised back up
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Would my support be to be lowered if the mother signs an agreement
The court will not permit two parents to conspire against their child for the purposes of reducing child support; it is unlikely that the court would endorse such an agreement, particularly where the reduction would bring your support obligation below the guideline amount.
It's difficult to predict what DCSE would do, but I suspect they would be similarly hesitant to agree below the guideline (even with the mother's consent).
Support is always subject to modification based on a material change in circumstance.
Re: Would my support be to be lowered if the mother signs an agreement
If the mother's support case is with DCSE, the support obligation will normally need to conform with the requirements of the Virginia Child Support Guidelines found at Sec. 20-108.2 of the Code of Virginia. Whether the Court and DCSE would approve of a variance with the mother's acquiesence for the reason you've offered, I have no idea.
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