Child support question

[Billzfan]

Right now I have about 1800 dollars per month that I pay in child support payments. I am current and have never been in arrears. This helps tremendously on the means test as a major allowable deduction. However, that is based on my salary from a couple of years ago. The ex-wife has not taken me to court to get that raised. I am actually contemplating going back to court and increasing that amount in order to work the figures more in my favor on the means test.

If the court changes that figure to let's say...2400 dollars per month, that money would go to my 2 kids instead of to the sharks at the credit card companies. My ex-wife and I have an off the record agreement that she gets 1400 of the current figure of 1800 every month. The other 400 goes into a savings account for my kids cars when they turn 16 and is saved for college. She would definitely agree to take the additional 600 per month (If I start paying 2400) and put that in there as well.

Does anyone here think that's a bad idea? (Establishing a couple of month of the modified (new) support order at 2400 to lower my means test figures?)

[Mi Bankruptcy]

umm.. any off the record agreement would constituent fraud. You don't want to make your life worse. However, if the ex takes you to court to get more support all the power to her if you are able to afford it. ;o)

[Billzfan]

It's not really an off the record agreement - rather, it's their (her and her new husband's) way of agreeing to take some of the money that they are paid each month and ensuring that it is readily available down the road for the kid's to use. If they didn't agree to save some of the child support in an account that only my kids could have, I would take the oldest back to court and get full custody (where I am the custodial parent) and then I would automatically pay for only 1. (my son is 12, primarily lives with me all the time anyway - even though she's the "custodial" parent...but he spends most of his time with me (284 days in 2009). That's why I am going to try to get my household size in the means test to pass as "2" instead of just me "1" because I do have my kids a ton of the time (my son about 5/6 out of every 7 days and my daughter 1/2)

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Your doing well at planning your bankruptcy..

[SMinGA]

Its one thing to claim a documented $1800 in c/s. It could be a problem if you're actually depositing $ into savings accounts for the kids though.

If the savings accounts are in your name/ss# you may want to research your exemptions to see if they can be covered. If they are in your ex's name, or ugmta accounts in the kids names - those balances should not be at risk - but you should not be paying into them directly. Even though you mean it as part of your c/s payment, its actually an insider transfer of assets and that $400/mo for as long as the trustee looks back could create a minimum amount you need to pay to creditors in your plan. (If you're going to be paying enough into the plan to cover it, this won't be an issue.) Moving forward, you should pay $1800 c/s to the ex. If she deposits $400 into an account, its her choice. Or if the amount is increased - make sure to pay it all to the ex.

Another potential issue I see... You're going to claim the child as part of your household AND claim c/s payments for said child. That is likely to raise questions. Can't have it both ways...

[Billzfan]

The attorney said that if it was challenged I could go before the judge and that in most cases they are reasonable. Because I typically have them 84 hours per week, and she has them the other 84, I could split the 2 kids in two and do a household of 2 on my means test. That is something that he has seen the court in Boston agree to.

[momofthree]

It sounds to me as if the $1800 is court-ordered and is paid in full to her each month on time. As per a verbal agreement she then is allowed to spend $1400 of that money on household upkeep and saves $400 of it towards the kids' future. Is that correct? If so, I don't see that being an issue at all.

I can't see raising the child support being an issue either, even if you do have the children part of the time. Normally child support is calculated using a system that involves the mother's income, the father's income, and a percentage of time that each child spends with each parent. As long as it is calculated honestly and accurately based on those figures, then there's nothing the bk court can do.