My eldest loves with me permanently, but the younger siblings live 50% with me and 50% with their father. The father pays child support for my eldest, but nothing for the other 2. Their father now refuses to pay for anything to do with the younger siblings. His excuse... "I already pay you enough in child support."
How do I get him to pay half the expenses for my younger 2 children?
I can't afford to pay for all the extras for my younger ones, but feel so guilty that they may miss out. Their father knows I'll feel that guilt, so holds it over my head.
Edit: expenses such as sporting fees (which come to approximately $2000 per year all up and are one-off payments for the season) specialist dr fees, sporting uniforms that get shared between both houses etc etc etc
6 Replies
What expenses for the younger 2 are you wanting him to pay?
If it’s after school sports etc then he would pay for it on his week.
With 50 / 50 he shouldn’t need to pay you unless you’re paying for things in his week?
Just go through child support, then he pays what he has to.
Child support is to even up the household incomes so that the kids get the opportunity to live in similar circumstances in both houses. If your incomes are similar and your custody is 50/50 then he probably owes nothing. You could request a CSA assessment on it but it might not come out in your favour.
However, if the sports/extracurriculars are agreed on and supported by both parents then I think he should at least go halves on that. Maybe mediation?
You realise you can't force him. So you either pay or you don't. You do not send anything to his or expect him to take them to anything you pay for. If he doesn't spend on them when with him, they can't go to his as he's being neglectful (out of spite, what a sick) but hey when you have majority care he'll paychild support for them too.
Go to the child support agency website and calculate how much he should pay, if you think he should be paying more, lodge through the child support agency and get them to collect.
Just go CSA collect and let them sort it out, honestly so much easier!