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2late2be's avatar

How much money for 2 kids and making $650 weekly living in Texas if getting divorced for child support?

Asked by 2late2be (2278 points ) December 18th, 2009

Ok, so i’m leaving my husband, he makes $650 weekly and I would like to know how much is fair? We have 2 kids.
I know that is hard to know exactly, jusy want an estimate…

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5 Answers

Poser's avatar

Not sure about Texas, but in Florida there is a child support calculator. Basically, add both parents’ incomes. The total income for both parents and the number of children determines the total amount of support (total amount it takes to raise the children). Take the non-custodial parent’s percentage of the total, and apply it to the total support. That is how much (minimum) they will pay.

For example, your spouse makes $2600 a month. Let’s say you make $1800 per month. Total income would be $4400 per month (total of both incomes). There is a chart that says that for 2 kids with $4400 per month total income, the total support required would be $x. For the sake of this example, let’s just say x = $1100. Since the non custodial parent makes approximately 60% of the total income (2600/4400), he would be required to pay 60% of the total support, or $660 per month (1100 * 60%).

This is, of course, just numbers I pulled out of my ass. And, it’s in my state of Florida. But I suspect that Texas has a similar system. I’m sure you can find more information on Google.

dpworkin's avatar

The court has standards to apply, and if you have special needs you can mention them at the time.

2late2be's avatar

@Poser Thanks, I found the Texas calculator.

galileogirl's avatar

I hate to be a downer but a lot of fathers don’t pay all the mandated support and the longer they have to pay, the more likely they are to fall behind. The more you can improve your earning ability the better off you will be in the long run. Back in the day, I only asked for the minimum which worked out to 5% of his gross pay. Even that small amount was never there on the 1st of the month. When I got my degree, he constantly hinted around that maybe I was earning more and he had other kids to take care of. There was never any money for extras when she got to high school or help with college. The last check I got was the month before she turned 18.

If I were you, I’d live the best life possible on your income. If he pays regularly, you can loosen up but always keep a kids emergency fund with some of the support. Don’t let anybody know about it kids or ex. That way if he falls on hard times, gets a resentful second wife or just disappears one day you will have a cushion

Darwin's avatar

The Texas State Attorney General frowns on child-support slackers, so his office can and will prosecute. Also, if your husband works for any sort of government entity his paychecks can be set up so the support is automatically taken out.

However, it would be best if you could put as much of any support payments as you can into a college savings account for the kids.

You might also want to check out this site and it’s links. And don’t forget to include medical insurance for the kids when you get to court!

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