If you are wondering what will happen with your child support obligation if you quit your job, the following article should answer your question. Take the example of Larry and Dawn.
Larry married Dawn and had baby Sara. Larry and Dawn got divorced, and Sara stayed with Larry. Now Dawn has been served by the Attorney General’s office in Texas with notice that she needs to start paying child support.
How much will she pay in child support? We need to know the following details about Dawn before we can answer this question:
Dawn is the CEO of Dawn Design. She makes $100,000 per year. She graduated from a special Design school in Paris, after getting her bachelor of art degree on the east coast.
Based on this income with only one child, the child support payment would be 20% of Dawn’s net. If she takes home the full $100,000 in cash, Dawn will pay $20,000 per year in child support, amounting to $1,667 per month all year long.
When she got served with the AG’s child support notice, she sold Dawn Design and stopped working. She did not want to pay $20,000 per month in child support. Dawn applied for unemployment, and now sits and watches General Hospital during the work day.
What will the Attorney General do about someone like Dawn? This is called voluntary or intentional unemployment. If the Attorney General can show the judge that Dawn went to special design school and owned a business, but sold it all when she received child support notice, there will be a price to pay. The Judge can order that despite the fact that Dawn sold her business, she will pay the $1,667 per month in support. This amount is clearly what Dawn could or should be making.
Child Support in San Antonio
What does this means for you? If you can earn more, the judge can calculate the child support based on what you should be earning.
If Dawn is employed but, is only employed as a retail person at Ross, then the judge can call this voluntary underemployment. This can again result in the same $1667.00 per month in child support. For you, the amount will be assessed on what you were earning or what you could be earning.
What does this mean for you? You cannot purposefully lose your job and stop working to avoid the child support obligation. Legislators in Texas have been down the street and back again with child support evaders and they have created roadblocks to avoiding the obligation.
However, if you have legitimately lost your job, and you really cannot find one, then voluntary underemployment or unemployment calculations will not apply to you. Rather, you will be obligated to pay child support based on the legal assumption that you are making minimum wage for 40 hours per week. If you have one child, this will amount to about $290 per month in support.
What percentage will you pay?
CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES
BASED ON THE MONTHLY NET
RESOURCES OF THE OBLIGOR
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1 child 20% of Obligor’s Net Resources
2 children 25% of Obligor’s Net Resources
3 children 30% of Obligor’s Net Resources
4 children 35% of Obligor’s Net Resources
5 children 40% of Obligor’s Net Resources
6+ children Not less than the amount for 5 children
This table only applies if you do not have other children, not involved in the new child support case– the below links will help you more accurately calculate your obligation.
http://www.alllaw.com/calculators/Childsupport/texas/
http://www.nacollawfirmblog.com/family-law/texas-child-support-guidelines