400 for TWO kids is excessive. yikes. Maybe I'm just cheap, but I can get a lot of great clothes for two kids for 300. Probably even less. Sales and coupons!

Maybe ask how many outfits they need and buy your half yourself. Even after shipping costs, it'd probably be cheaper then shelling out $400+! And then you know your money went to clothes and not BM's lunch bill.

Couple things.

Without receipts she has no proof which means DH doesn't owe her anything for those.

Yes $400 seems extreme but very possible if your going to top of the line stores. I mean shoes alone can cost $100. Issue is there's no cap in the agreement so there's nothing you can do. It's stupid this is in there agreement.

Yes she can bag them and take them back. If you can prove it then you can get her on fraud or theft maybe but it would be a struggle.

Finally it doesn't matter what she does with child support. It's not his money any more when she gets it. It's her to decide how to spend which yes she should spend on the children but that can be done many ways. So no he's not technically paying 100% for clothes since its her money at that point.

Still don't understand why clothing would be put in the agreement. That's one of the things child support is for. Honestly your DH or his lawyer screwed up on that one. Fix it or else there's nothing you guys can do.

Uhm. No way. Ask for a receipt. My SS has to wear uniforms to his public school. I just bought five bottoms, five tops, ten under shirts for 140$ including shipping. Unless she is shopping st Hollister and American Eagle for 20$ bottoms/pair then I can't even understand what she's spending all that money on.

I only spent about $500 on school clothes for three kids, so this seems excessive to me. But then again, I'm a bargain shopper.

As the other posters have said, if she doesn't give complete receipts then she doesn't get paid. I would try to modify this part of the agreement or put a cap on it.

DH used to be responsible for half of his kids school supplies when BM was the custodial parent. Once he figured out that she was scamming him, he printed out the list for one kid, bought everything on it and mailed it. Maybe that would be best. If you guys just bought half of the clothes.

Ah the old clothing debacle.

400.00 per kid in public school IS high.

Lesson WE learned is a receipt means NOTHING. It is just a piece of paper. Heck for all you know BM could be buying herself stufffffff......It has been known to happen.

Does your court order remain silent on clothing? It should because your cs is to cover everything that is YOUR portion of raising the child.

I knew OF several custodials who took non custodial back to court for cell phone costs, clothing costs, car insurance cost AND car purchase costs AND college costs. The Judges said NOPE. Same for activity event costs.

What I would do, is make sure the child has appropriate size and weather conditions clothing that is at your house. No need to transfer back and forth suitcases. Cant tell you how many times I have read and heard of BM's saying Dad stole clothing. Easy to fix that right away...........don't accept x's clothing and don't give it to her.

Nothing has changed. She provides receipts and he can give her half of the cost. Unfortunately it doesn't matter where her half of the money comes from. He is still liable for his half if that is what the CO stipulates.

I suppose that you can play the logic card that since her only income is his CS payments that he is paying 100% and she owes DH half of the costs for school clothes but I doubt it would fly in court.

I sure would try it if I were going to court anyway..... just for the entertainment value of seeing the toxic opposition blow a gasket.

Good luck.

$400 is a lot for one kid! I don't spend that much between our 3 school aged kids. My dad only gave us $150 each for school clothes and shoes. Then SM would bring us shopping. That was the only time of the year we got new clothes. Clothing is no more expensive now than it was then. I remember one year my stepbrother was mad because he only got 1 pair of jeans and 2 shirts and I had several bags full. His were expensive brands and mine were 80% Old Navy.

"Back to School" clothes are over-rated. If you keep decent clothes for your kids you don't need to go buy a bunch of brand new stuff just because school resumes. Shoes...probably. A ton of clothes...Nope!

I stopped "school clothes" shopping when our schools decided to ditch the uniforms.

Depends on the age, I think. Last year I think we spent close to $1000 on SD clothes. Then again, she is pretty tall for her age which makes it hard to buy clothes for her.

$400 per kid for school clothing is not excessive in my area. But my question is what all is suppose to be included in this 'back to school spree'? Is this strictly Aug/Sept back to school and into early fall (winter clothing isn't really out much in stores yet)? Or does it (the $800) suppose to cover everything, such as underwear, shoes, PE shoes, pajamas, school time clothing, weekend wear, dress clothes, winter coats, hats, gloves yadda yadda?

If it doesn't cover entire necessities, how are the remaining clothing needs purchased and/or divided between the parents?

FWIW, I would not be good with one parent in the opposite home selecting all the clothing. I would not be ok with BM doing all the shopping and handing me a bill. Sales and store coupons , I'm well experienced in using, but for me, hey, the move I save, the more items I get to purchase (LOL). With a teen female 'back to school' means complete outfits including accessories to complete the look.

Id say its exsessive but i pretty much only buy clothing from thift stores except for underwear. Kid clothes at my local throfts are less then 3 dollars and alot of it is new. Sometimes i can even score brand new shoes for less then 5. I buy only the "good brands" because the clothing holds up well and i can generally resell them.

$400 on clothes for 1 child is just not financially responsible for someone with no job.

Both houses should have clothing for kids. I really would not trust recipets from her given her no job status and having other kids. If you feel taken advantage of , its probably because you are.

If the kids need school supplies/clothes why doesn't dad just buy them outright and BM give him half of that? Or nothing at all back but he doesn't have to reimburse her his part.

I budgeted $100 for my 5 year old SD's new back to school clothes, but I've already spent about $50 on her (a new lunchbox and a few shirts i found on sale). I don't budget much for back to school clothes because I pick up things here and there throughout the year. I like clothes shopping so she usually has a pretty nice wardrobe lol I don't feel the need to go crazy just because she's going back. When she's older, around 13-16, i'll probably budget $200 and let her spend some of her own money from working part-time in the summer.