Roy Weddleton

What We Do

Child Support Questions & Answers
If you are divorced, or in the process of getting divorced, you are probably either paying or receiving child support.  Courts generally order the payment of support whenever there is a child under 18 years of age.

Question: Who decides how much child support my ex-spouse has to pay me?

Answer: Fixing the amount of child support has become a fairly mechanical process, with little room for discretion.  If the parties cannot agree, the judge determines the amount of support payable according to a New Hampshire law called the Child Support Guidelines.  The Guidelines contain a formula for figuring the child support obligation based on:

1. the gross income of the mother
2. the gross income of the father
3. the number of children in the family under the age of 18 years

The formula is fairly rigid and exceptions are not easily made.


Question: I have started working some overtime, and now my ex-wife wants an increase in child support.  What is included in my “gross income” for calculating child support?

Answer: “Gross income” means all income from any source, including hourly wages, salary, tips, lottery or gambling winnings, pensions, and government programs, such as workers’ compensation, veterans’ benefits, and unemployment benefits.

However, overtime earnings are not included if the overtime is occasional or seasonal.  Different rules apply to business owners or self-employed persons.


Question: We are getting a divorce and I plan to let my husband have the kids.  He earns twice as much as I do.  Will I have to pay him child support?

Answer: Unless you make some other agreement with your husband in the divorce, if he has custody of the kids then you will have to pay him child support.  The law does not discriminate between mothers and fathers on child support, and if the father has custody, then the mother must pay him child support.


Question: I just got laid off from my old job, and I took a new job for less pay.  Can I get my child support payments reduced?

Answer: Whenever there is a substantial change in your circumstances, you have the right to ask the court to change your child support.


Question: Circumstances haven’t changed for me, and I haven’t had any increase in child support from my ex-husband for years.  What can I do to get a look at his current income, and maybe get more support for my kids?

Answer: The law allows either party to ask the court for a modification of the support order three (3) years after the entry of the last order for support, without the need to show a substantial change of circumstances.  If it has been more than three (3) years since your current support order went into effect, you can petition the court to increase your child support and also ask to see your ex-husband’s current tax returns.

If you have questions about child support, either what you receive or what you pay, call Attorney Michael Gfroerer at (603) 228-1151 or e-mail him at mgfroerer@granitelaw.com.  We are experienced in handling all aspects of divorce cases, including the modification of child support after the divorce has been granted.



Thinking of Avoiding Divorce Obligations By Bankruptcy?
It used to be that if you owed your ex-spouse a property settlement and you declared bankruptcy, that obligation was wiped out.  More and more courts are now refusing to discharge a divorce property settlement unless the debtor needs the money for support or to run a business (an instance where paying the debt would be a greater harm to the debtor than it would be a benefit to the ex-spouse).  Don’t let your ex-spouse intimidate you by threatening to declare bankruptcy!



Did You Know?
In Georgia, a wife was awarded the couple’s condo as part of the divorce settlement, and the husband was required to make the mortgage payments to the wife.  The wife sold the condo and paid off the mortgage—and now the husband must still make payments to the wife.

Unless it is specified in the divorce decree, the condo is part of a property settlement.  The responsibility to pay the mortgage does not end with the sale of the property.



I Rest My Case
From The Associated Press:
Professor Robert Lucas of Chicago was the winner this year of the $1 million Nobel Prize in economics.  But his ex-wife deserves a prize for staggering economic foresight.  When Rita and Robert Lucas got divorced seven years ago, she asked her lawyer to add one tiny clause to the property settlement:  “Wife shall receive 50% of any Nobel Prize.”  Her foresight is even more amazing considering that the clause had an expiration date: Oct. 31, 1995.  Lucas won the prize on October 10.  Ironically, he was honored for an economic theory he called “rational expectations.”



Lawyer Joke of the Month
Have you seen my divorce lawyer’s latest advertisement?  “Satisfaction guaranteed or your honey back.”



There Oughta Be A Law . . .
A divorced Boise man recently discovered a clever, though unscrupulous, way of beating his ex-wife out of the alimony he owed her—and the courts let him get away with it.

John Eugene Holley sent his ex-wife a $750 check in 1993 and wrote on the back “paid in full” plus interest and late charges.  His ex, Joan F. Holley, cashed the check, but scratched out the “paid in full” designation on it.  She then sought a writ of execution for the $336,469 in outstanding alimony and interest he actually owed.

Twin Falls County Court, however, ruled that “when a creditor cashes a tendered check with the knowledge of the other person’s intent that it be payment in full, he is then bound to the agreement and cannot later turn around and sue for the remaining balance due under the former dispute.”

Dissenting, Judge Darrel Perry pointed out that the ruling could allow all those delinquent in their alimony payments to simply write “paid in full” on any one of their checks and thus be relieved of all future payments.

Don’t bet the farm this would work in New Hampshire!

If you have questions or want additional information, Call Attorney Weddleton 603-223-6613 or e-mail him rweddleton@millerlawnh.com