Divorce and the High-Income Stay-at-Home Dad
Life is expensive, so expensive that, unless you write out a budget and keep written records of all your transactions, you might not even realize how much you spend. Most married couples raising young children have dual income households. When you are unhappily married but not seriously considering divorce, it is easy to construct a narrative in which you do all the work and your spouse contributes little of value, whether in terms of income or of the daily tasks associated with childcare. When parents divorce, the court can only arrive at a fair amount of money to be paid as child support by carefully accounting for the children’s expenses, each parent’s income, and how much time the children spend with each parent. If you think the court made an error in calculating the amount of child support you pay or receive, contact a South Florida child support lawyer.
Details of the Karimi Case
Michael and Joanne Karimi were married for 23 years and had three children together. When Joanne filed for divorce, their youngest son had not yet started kindergarten. At that time, Joanne was working full time, and Michael stayed home to take care of their son, but he earned some income day trading stocks. He had a Datex checking account which he used almost exclusively for his day trading activities, and early in the divorce process, he estimated the value of the account at $7,000. By the time their divorce was finalized after a three-day trial, the Datex account was empty, and Michael had a salaried job. He testified that he had used the money from the Datex account to pay his own expenses and his son’s. He asked the court to award him the money he had spent from the Datex account as part of the division of property, but the court refused.
After the divorce, the children spent about two thirds of their time with Joanne and one third. Since Joanne was the primary residential parent, Michael had to pay child support to her. The court ordered Michael to pay $1,450 per month in child support, but it did not specify how it arrived at that figure. Michael also argued that his child support obligations should be reduced because of how much time he spent with the children. The court denied his request because courts have the discretion to reduce the secondary residential parent’s child support obligations if the children spend 40% or more of their time with the secondary residential parent, and Michael’s share was only 33 percent. The judge did say that Michael could petition the court to reduce his child support obligations based on the fact that he had been laid off from the job he had held at the time the divorce was finalized.
Reach Out to Us Today for Help
You have the right to request changes to your child support order, but you must follow the legal procedures correctly, or the court will deny your request. Contact the Boca Raton child support lawyers at Schwartz | White for more information.