Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Why is my daughters attorney hesitating to ask her ex for more child support and telling her it might go down if she takes him to court? He makes 3 times what she does. They share custody and he pays her less than 10% of his income. This doesn’t make sense to us. This has been going on since November. And why can’t she request his income information?


Asked on 1/25/19, 11:22 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Peter Mogren Mogren, Glessner & Ahrens, P.S.

I can only speculate as to what your daughter's attorney is doing or why. I assume that he has relevant information to make this recommendation.

Child Support is based upon the comparative net incomes of the parties, based upon mandatory schedules. Those schedules just changed on January 1, 2019. The issue becomes how have their incomes changed since the last hearing. What impact do the new schedules have on the amount of support. If you have an idea of incomes, you can do the calculation to see what support might be. If that amount is less than what she is receiving now, that is probably why the attorney is reluctant.

There is a form she can submit to Washington Employment Security to learn his reported income for the last few quarters.

She could file a Petition to Modify or a Motion to Adjust (if it has been 2 years). If she alleges high income for him, it will force him to prove a lower income to keep his support down. It is best to have an idea, because if his income is lower, her support could be lowered. It is better to save her attorney fees and not get support lowered.

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Answered on 1/25/19, 11:39 am


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