Honesty Pays

     Have you lived with someone or been married and had kids together? If so and if your relationship has ended then there might be some things to know. First, when creating a parenting plan, try to create a parenting plan that will mirror reality as close as possible. Sure, adjustments will have to be made here and there, but the structure should remain the same. Next, make sure that whatever you agree to have written in your agreement, you will then follow through and obey. Don't say you will pay child support through the state and then give your support check to your son or daughter to hand to their mother each week. Yes, it happens. Finally, be as forthcoming as possible when it comes to financial disclosure. Do not agree on a fixed number for child support if there is nothing to substantiate that number. Let me explain what I mean and why. 

     I had a mediation where Judy and Carl had a daughter. Both parents wanted to spend as much time with Ann as they could. They ended up splitting the parenting time in half with each parent having 50% of the time. Carl worked for himself and so it was difficult for him to come up with an exact number, for income purposes, to determine child support. At the time of their divorce, It was cheaper to settle on a random number with Judy than to hire accountants and go through a lengthy discovery process in order to get a real number for Carl to pay child support. Carl and Judy agreed on $1500/mo. Things were fine for the first 2 yrs and then of course the economy turned for the worse. Carl was in real estate and not making anywhere close to what he used to. Now Carl and Judy end up in my mediation session wanting to modify and according to his new income and Judy's income, Judy's actual child support is $5/mo. Yep. $5/mo. Judy was not happy or in agreement. I ran the numbers and in order for Judy to be entitled to $1500/mo, Carl would have to make $400,000/yr. Carl never made anywhere close to this. At best Carl made $60,000/yr which would have resulted in $400/mo if they didn't share time sharing equally. 

     Needless to say the mediation did not settle as Judy refused to take $5/mo. This case will proceed to court where a judge will run the same numbers I did and will let Carl and Judy know what the new actual child support numbers are. As I stated in the beginning. be as forthcoming as possible when it comes to financial disclosure so as to avoid a costly mistake later. Unfortunately, both Carl and Judy have spent thousands of dollars on legal fees to resolve what could have been avoided long ago if they hadn't picked a random number for child support.  

iChat Mediation invites you to come and learn more about having either your divorce conducted by one of our State Supreme Court Certified mediators or how you can become part of the most cutting edge virtual companies in the world. To learn more visit us online at http://www.ichatmediation.com or call us at 877-822-1479.

In the words of Lawton Chiles, “I didn’t come to stay, I came to make a difference.”