I've received hundreds of calls from people wanting to increase or decrease their child support payments based on conversations with friends or relatives. The potential client relates that they talked to their friend, who has a MUCH better deal than what they have, and can they get as good a deal as their friend. When I ask for more information, they never know the incomes involved in their friends' cases, they don't know how much the friend pays for health insurance to cover children, the cost of work-related childcare, or how the friend divided the tax exemptions and credits for the child.
As I have stated in earlier posts: Child support is based on both parents' incomes, the cost of health insurance to cover the children, the cost of work-related childcare, the division of tax exemptions and credits. A huge factor is whether or not the parents have shared residential custody and a shared expense agreement in place. Small adjustments can be made for a party having a lot of parenting time but falling short of an exactly equal sharing of time. It's fairly common to see adjustments for long distance parenting time expense if the parties reside far away from one another. And lastly there are some rare cases where adjustments are made for one parent taking the lion's share of the debts of the parties, or a child having special needs that should be shared.
One factor which should not be important, but which can be, is the judge assigned to the case or the county in which the case was decided. Judges are human beings, and they have different opinions about what factors are the most important considerations, and whether or not the Kansas Child Support Guidelines need to be strictly followed. Some judges will allow people to waive child support from one another and others will not (unless the guidelines show that no support should be paid). The county in which your case is filed, and the judge assigned to your case can be important in determining a child support amount.
So, take the advice you get from friends, co-workers and others with a very big grain of salt. If you don't know about all the variables in your friend's case, you really can't compare what you pay or receive with what your friend pays or receives. Most family law attorneys are willing to set up a short appointment for the purpose of going over your child support worksheet just to see if a change might be warranted. Expect to pay between $100-150 for a half-hour consultation for this. It's really the only way to determine if you need to file a motion to amend your child support payment.
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