A New Spouse and Child Support Payments
Your ex is now remarried to a wealthy individual while you are struggling to pay your bills, child support, and possibly alimony. Is it fair that you still struggle while your ex takes child support he or she doesn’t really need?
Alimony
According to PA law, a spouse who is receiving alimony (spousal support) loses it upon remarriage or cohabitation with a romantic partner. The paying spouse, upon discovering the remarriage or cohabitation, may file a motion to terminate spousal support. If you discover your ex has remarried or is cohabiting some months after it has taken place, your ex may be ordered to repay you for those months. But if you are the one paying spousal support and are behind in your payments, you will need to pay whatever is owed up to the time of the remarriage or cohabitation.
So if your ex remarries, you should be free of alimony payments. But that is not the case for child support.
Child Support
According to PA law, a new spouse has no obligation to support your children. Therefore, your ex’s remarriage does not automatically constitute a reason to decrease your child support payments. However, the court may take into consideration that your ex no longer has the same financial obligations. Assuming your ex previously lived alone and paid for the mortgage, groceries, insurance, taxes, etc. all by herself/himself, a new wealthy spouse is likely to be pitching in on those expenses now. Therefore, your ex has extra money to help cover more of the children’s expenses.
In this situation, you can petition the court for a modification of child support, since your ex’s available income for supporting the children is now greater. What you must prove is that there has been a material and substantial change in your ex’s circumstances since the last support order was entered that justifies a modification.
If you are able to demonstrate this and the court agrees, the division of expenses for the children could be rebalanced, with the likelihood that your portion would be lowered. However, this is very difficult to prove.
It is best that you reach out to an experienced divorce lawyer to help you make the strongest case for adjustment of child support and termination of alimony.
Contact us here at the Law Offices and Mediation Services of Elissa C. Goldberg to help you craft your agreements or submit your modification requests in a way that provides you with the best outcomes.