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 a 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 specialized design school in Paris after earning her Bachelor of Arts 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, which amounts to $1,667 per month for the entire year.
When she received 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 workday.
What will the Attorney General do about someone like Dawn? This is referred to as voluntary or intentional unemployment. If the Attorney General can demonstrate to the judge that Dawn attended a specialized design school and owned a business, but sold it all when she received a child support notice, there will be a price to pay. The Judge can order that, despite Dawn having sold her business, she will continue to pay $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 mean 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 only works as a retail person at Ross, then the judge can consider this voluntary underemployment. This can again result in the same $1667.00 per month in child support. For you, the amount will be assessed based on what you were earning or what you could have been earning.
What does this mean for you? You cannot intentionally lose your job or stop working to avoid your 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. Instead, you will be obligated to pay child support based on the legal assumption that you are making a 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
1 child 20% of Obligor’s Net Resources
2 children, 25% of Obligor’s Net Resources
3 children,n 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 five children
This table only applies if you do not have other children involved in the new child support case; the links below will help you calculate your obligation more accurately.
https://childsupport.ca.gov/calculate-child-support/
http://www.nacollawfirmblog.com/family-law/texas-child-support-guidelines