Yes and no. What is suppose to happen is that they are suppose to look at the entire year, your gross income- something like that- plus all the bills, etc etc. However that didn't happen in our case.

DH was going through a divorce, as a quick as you could say child support, BM up and quit her job so that her share would be higher. Technically, the judge is suppose to take into account both sides entire yearly income, but since she wasn't working at that time, and the judge was an ass, he literally just decided to give BM's income a zero for the year, even though she had been working, getting paid more than DH for the past few years up until a month before court, and he slammed my DH so hard with cs. He was bring home less than he could live on and had to have his mother and brother move in with him to keep the house that SHE WANTED, but didn't want during the divorce... that was another piece of work she conjured up. So, he had to go back for a second time to fight. When he did that, she up and quit her job again. This time, the judge saw her tactic, and put a gag order on her... there is a name for is, but I don't know what it is called, but basically, she was required to work a full time job because there is absolutely nothing wrong with her and she is capable of doing so.

She then tried to take him back to court for a third time, to claim more money from DH because of childcare expenses. However, she lived with her mother who didn't work, her mother actually payed for all the bills in the home, she paid her nothing and her mother watched SS- however they tired to claim that BM was paying her for childcare. They didn't have any valid records to prove this, and the kicker of it was that DH's mother was living with him, didn't work either, and she would be happy to watch SS for FREE. The judge dismissed her claims, they got an FROF order.

So, you have to be careful. It depends on the judge and the situation. If you are not married, it may not look good, and your bf may end up paying more because she isn't working if she can prove bills, etc.

Judge decided child support based on what my son's dad was making at the time. IN my state they will only take up to a certain percentage of pay. At the time my Son's dad was hardly working and the order was for 160.00 a month--now that was almost ten years ago, but that was based on a percentage of his pay that he was making at the time.

Alisha

With us, both salaries were considered, as well as who was working where and making what when the separation occurred. There's a calculation worksheet, many states have them available online, that determines each person's "fair" share. In our case, whomever made the higher income had to pay the higher share of support, but they'd both been at the same job or in the same field for several years and there was none of that quitting a job to get more money crap. I would try to calculate it out and find out what the damage COULD be, if she filed a claim with child support enforcement. If it's more than he's paying now, then I'd try to preempt her with getting her to sign a separation agreement that includes the current amount. If she chose to quit her job after they separated, that's her business, but child support would only take into consideration supporting the child, not the mother. Usually, a judge will look at the status quo at the time of the separation when making a determination and it'll be pretty obvious what's she's up to.

~ Anne ~