Question concerning child support in PA?
I met my common law wife about 9 years ago and have been with her ever since. She was married for over 10 years, had 3 children, and divorced in 2001. After living in very intolerable conditions for a couple of years she left him and tried to take her kids with her. She was only working partime and he was the breadwinner at the time she left. He used a 401k savings to hire a good lawyer, that surely was marital property, took her to court. With hardly a dollar to her name she lived with friends until she obtained full time work and was able to afford an apartment. He easily won custody of the children and she was obligated to pay $550 dollars a month. It certainly could have been worse but the agreement was based on the fact she was making about 25K /yr less than he and had ownership of nothing. She has paid him through the county $550 a month for the last 10 years totaling $6600 a year or roughly $66,000. Her is my question; Her oldest daughter is now 22. She became pregnant at 16 got married at 18, moved out of the father’s house and has not lived there since. Her father had remarried and she never got along with him or her stepmother. Her second child, a son, is now 20 and went to work full time at the age of 18. He has a stormy relationship with his father and has not lived there since his junior year in high school. Her youngest is another daughter who is 12 years old and does live with the father. I have never thought much about the father as I believe his parental neglect is the root of alot of problems the kids have. They have spent alot of time with us, especially since they can now drive and are not subject what their father says, and we frequently here alot of stories about the dysfunctional family he comes from and the conditions of his home. We have approached social services and they will do nothing since I’m sure they see alot worse in many poverty stricken areas. I have brought up the idea to my wife of seeing a lawyer to investigate whether the child support she pays should have been lowered when the 2 oldest kids turn 18. We realize it would be better to give it to the kids or open an account in trust for them rather than to give it to the father when the kids get no benefit. She shoots the idea down saying that since she now makes likely 15K more than him, the court recalculation of the child support amount would likely be higher for just the 12 year old than the original agreement 10 years ago for all 3. We have never heard anything from the county when the first 2 kids turned 18 about a reduction of payments like other people I know who have paid child support. Does ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE ABOUT THIS? My wife says the child support will stop when the 12 yr old turns 18 and it is best to leave the issue alone. At this point, we have gotten so used to paying the support that the issue is not the money. Her 12 year comes to our house regularly wearing cloths that came from the thrift shop, complains that there house has no heat, and does not have anything that many 12 year olds would enjoy. Her father remarried a woman he married who has a daughter and 2 grandkids. Apparently, the daughter has some financial and emotional problems and is currently going through a divorce and we are told his wife directs alot of their money to her. Do we have grounds to have the child support lowered? Am I opening a can of worms that would be better left closed since we could wind up paying more for the 12 yr old than the $550 original agreement for all 3?? Is it worth to speak to a lawyer? I appreciate any advice I can get – especially from any one who has been in a similar situation. Thanks.