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Old 12-23-2004, 03:03 PM   #9
Clodfobble
UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 20,012
Because I know firsthand that it can be hard to remember all the different aspects of a court order when you're actually standing there for hours in front of the judge, here are some things that you should definitely remember to bring up:

1.) Medical Insurance - The standard order calls for the father to pay for and maintain insurance for the children, even if the mother also has secondary insurance. Make sure you mention that she has had them on a good plan for years and has specifically said she did not want to put them on your insurance, or you could end up having to pay for a policy they don't even use.

2.) Tax deductions - It's very common for the person paying child support to be given the right to claim the kids as dependents, even if they don't live with you. Deducting two additional kids will save you tons of money on your yearly taxes.

3.) Visitation - If an official order is going in, he will have increased rights to get to see the girls. In cases where the parents are so far apart, having them live with you all summer is not uncommon. If you can't afford for them to live with you for that long, you can use "giving that time up" as a bargaining chip to basically get to pick and choose when you do get to see them, on your schedule.

4.) Visitation costs/driving - Usually travel costs will be split if you bring it up (i.e., she'd have to pay for half of that rental car next time, or possibly even drive them to you herself half the time.) If you don't ask for a ruling, it will default to you as the non-custodial parent.

5.) Make sure the child support terminates when each child turns 18, and not when they get out of college. The latter is being worked in to more and more child support orders these days, and doesn't even allow you to give the money straight to the kid now that they're an adult, it still goes to the custodial parent.
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