"Help! I Can't Afford My Child Support!"

Many (and I mean many) clients and potential clients come to me adamant that they simply cannot afford their child support obligation.

Child support is simple math. Ok, it's not simple at all.  In fact, it's quite a complicated and long formula that I will not even attempt to relate to you, but it is math nonetheless, and it leaves very little to the imagination and does not provide a lot of room for legal wrangling.

A parent's child support obligation is, for the most part, based on three things:  1) the income of mom; 2) the income of dad; and 3) the number of overnights each party has. Let's say dad has parenting time every Thursday to Sunday, and mom has Sunday through Thursday. That means dad has three overnights per week, which equates to roughly 156 overnights per year. That is factored in with how much each party earns, and bam, you have dad's support obligation.

But let's say that mom has a new husband who is a manager at Ford and does pretty well. Shouldn't that count into mom's income? Maybe it should, but it doesn't. Except in the most unusual of circumstances, only the parties' incomes are considered. And if mom is not working because Mr. Wonderful's income supports them both, income can, and usually will, be imputed to mom at a reasonable amount.

What if dad picks up little Johnny after school on Mondays and Wednesdays and feeds him dinner and does his homework and returns him to mom at 8 p.m., shouldn't that count and give dad a reduction in his child support obligation? Again, maybe it should, but, again, it doesn't. When the guidelines say support is based on 'overnights,' it means that it is based on actual overnights spent with each parent. Not evenings, or afternoons, or even almost-overnights; it's overnights.

It is possible to convince a court that you are entitled to what is called a 'downward deviation' from the child support formula, but you better have a darned good reason. And, FYI, "My car payment is too much" does not count as a darned good reason. Your child is more important than your car, so maybe instead of driving a car that costs $400 a month, you may have to drive something more economical for a couple of years. That stinks, but that's the way it is, and any judge or referee in the state will tell you the exact same thing.

So, let's recap: It doesn't matter that your ex is married to Mr. Wonderful-high-income-earner, or that you have little Johnny until 8 p.m. on Wednesday evenings, or that your super-awesome Shelby has a hemi or a fetzer valve or a duel-cam whatever the thing is that goes under the hood–if it's too expensive, sell it and pay your support. Or go see the good people at the Wayne County Friend of the Court and see if they'll help you out with that one.