I live in Texas and I have just agreed to sign over custody of my boys ( ages 15 13 ) after nearly a year of trying to fight for custody w...

Question

I live in Texas and I have just agreed to sign over custody of my boys ( ages 15 & 13 ) after nearly a year of trying to fight for custody without an attorney. I want to pay child support however I have 3 children ( ages 10, 5, & 4 ) in my home. His lawyer said I would have to pay $370 a month ( I make $13 an hour ) and I will not be able to claim my boys on my income tax ever ... but I thought that if I am paying child support that I would be able to claim them every other year and also he calculated the child support based on the 19% when I thought it should be based on 17%. I haven't signed anything yet please someone help me figure this out

Answer

Under federal law, each of the children that you are seeking to list on your tax return would need to live with you at least 50% of the time or more, in the tax calendar year, in order to seek the tax deduction for those children on your tax return, or to receive alternating year deductions if it is split 50/50, unless otherwise agreed upon by the parties.

-

Next, in Texas under the Texas guidelines, when a person is not named the primary parent or if there is not a 50/50 custody arrangement agreed upon, and where there are (3) three children, that non-custodial parent should be paying 30% of their gross monthly income in child support per month to the primary or custodial parent. And, that 30% is taking your gross pay minus only a deduction for federal and SS taxes - unless you can prove that you have other children that you support or that you are on disability. In addition to this, under the Texas guidelines you could be ordered to pay an additional amount for the children's medical/dental/vision support above this percentage plus pay a percentage of their un-reimbursed medical/dental/vision expenses.

-

I would recommend to you, and to anyone who is involved in a custody battle or a divorce involving child custody, that you retain and pay a qualified family law attorney or divorce attorney with custody experience, to handle these arrangements for you, or ask a family member to help in retaining and paying that attorney so that they can properly advise you. However, the ultimate decision regarding child custody arrangements, unless court ordered, will be your decision.

-

Keep in mind that once the custody orders are entered with the court, these orders will be very difficult to modify or change, and in order to change or modify an order, time will have to pass and you will need to show a substantial change in circumstances in order to warrant the modification change, which is often times difficult to prove. Or you would need to have an emergency situation occur that would substantiate a change. Either way, you WILL need to retain a qualified and experienced child custody attorney in order to assist you in any modification effort that you attempt to enter into in the future.

-

Goldstein & Scopellite, PC has qualified child custody attorneys, family law lawyers and divorce attorneys available to represent you at either one of their law offices located in Dallas, Texas and Tucson, Arizona - Please visit their websites at www.LawyersDallas.com and www.Lawyers-Tucson.com for more information or to contact them. Thank you.