Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

child-support credit for no visitations

I've had custody of my teenager and have received support from my ex-husband for the last year. My son will soon be going to live with his dad so I will be paying him support.

My question is: In the paperwork it says that my son would spend 2 weekends a month with his dad plus two weeks in the summer. My son only spent a total of 4 nights with his father during that whole time.

Because child support is based on the presumption that he would spend time with his father but he didn't so I shouldered a larger expense for him is it possible to get sometime of credit for that expense?

Can I deduct the 100 days he did not spend with his dad from my future child support payments?

Help...Can I deduct days that he didn't stay with his dad for support days that I will owe?


Asked on 5/13/04, 4:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Amir John Showrai The Pacific Law Firm, PLLC

Re: child-support credit for no visitations

Basically, you can try to get something for all that time that your son was with you instead of his father, but without a support order or a modification of the original order, it will not be easy.

I do have a few questions, such as why is your son now going to live with his father, when his father never even exercised the limited visitation he used to have? How and why did you agree to this plan?

There is one other possibility, which you addressed. That is whether you can get credit for having taken on more than your share of the support. If your son's father agrees to compensate you, then great, you can avoid the legal system altogether.

In my experience, this is highly unlikely to happen. Nevertheless, it's still worth a shot. Ultimately, I would advise that you either call me or another family law attorney, because it sounds like you have some costly issues on the horizon. Good luck and I hope this helps.

Amir John Showrai

(206) 223-9510

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Answered on 5/13/04, 5:33 pm


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