now i have always been for the child-support system because growing up in one of the toughest areas of Brooklyn i have seen to many single mothers struggle with children, because the father's were not around or refused to help take care of the children financially. I also feel that it is a consistent way for me to contribute to my childrens needs without any drastic changes every week with the money that is requested from the mothers..

Now my problem is that like many men & women, I'm not college educated, and i obtained a GED and a certificate from a Business School about 6 years ago. That is not really sufficent, especially living in NYC where there is so much competition for jobs with college graduates I have been paying child support for my 6 year old since 1999 (i was 21) and since last August for my 2 year old (me and her mom were legally married and separated). Before 9/11 I worked for a company that i would have had the opportunity to grow with before the terrorist tragedy..I was laid off from that job 6 months later due to tha lost of business. Ever since then I have not found permanent full-time work with benefits, and I have had to obtain employment thought temp agencies. I started attending a Community College in Fall 2003 because of the reality of my employment situations. I realized that i was not going to find suitable, well-paying employment without a college education. We all lose jobs, income and fall behind on our bills,I realize I'm not the only one this has happened to. I was out of work for almost a year in a half, but collected unemployment and looked for work for months of that time. Unemployment in NYC lasts for only 6 months with very special exceptions for extensions. Now during that time i had no income i fell behind on Child-support payments, as well as rent, utilities, student loans, credit card, basically everything.. I started working last October through another temp agency, and i quickly informed CSU that i had found employment, and for the first month i worked I sent twice the amount i was supposed to send in money orders because i missed alot of payments when i had no income...and i knew arears where piling up..


LET ME GET TO THE POINT
i work now at 12.00 per hour
i gross 480.00 per week for 40 hours
i pay a total of 121.80 in taxes ( i file single because i don't claim my children)
i pay 69.00 + 50.00 = 119.00 arrears for my 6 year old..throught Public Assistance
i pay 136.00 + 68.00 = 204.00 arrears for my 2 year old (her mother recieves the money directly)

when i work a 40 hour week and pay the above
121.80 payroll taxes
204.00 1 child basic support plus arrears
119.00 another child basic support plus arrears
which brings my weekly deductions to a total of 444.80
which leaves me 35.20

I recently started working another job at Wendy's for 6.00 an hour just to support myself,and it was the quickest job available and any hope of me finishing college anytime soon have been put on hold, due to the fact that i have to have 2 full-time jobs just to pay child support, and take care of myself and my mounting bills. The Money is not the biggest issue, due to the fact that I have been working 2 jobs, I have not been able to spend every weekend with my daughters like I normally do, what hurts the most

Is there any arrangement that can be made to lower the amount that they are taking for arrears?
Is their some type of financial hardship I can claim to stop just the arrears until I'm able to catch up with my own bills

I need desperate advice..im in danger of losing my apartment and becoming homeless...

The best thing for you to do..if you have not already done it, is request an review and reduction of your child support order for both children. Your income has likely decreased drastically which warrants a reduction. The arrearage is typcially a percentage of your base child support amount....for instance in Virginia they typcially add 25% on top of the base for arrears...in other words if your base was 100 per month the arrears would be 25 and the total obligation would be 125. They will not halt payments do to unemployment of the non-custodial parent, what pretty much all states require is that the Non-custodial parent alert the CSU when they lose or change their job so that the amount can be reduced....otherwise its just going to keep adding up at the current rate (+ interest).

However, the fact that you are paying two seperate child support orders, upon review you should be able to state that to further reduce the amount ordered for each.

Check out the link below. Its the guidelines for the State of New York...you have to combine your annaul income with each of the mothers, seperately, to determine what the base is according to the guidelines...they both can be reduced further though if you state that you are currently paying an obligation for another child, as I said before.


https://newyorkchildsupport.com/pdfs/CSSA%202005.pdf

Hope this helps...trust me you are not alone in this one..My fiance is currently going through the same thing...he works so hard but is left with nothing in the end...We requested a review and it has been taking forever to get this straightened out. Hang in there...its a shame though because they could care less about your personal or living expenses...but as I said, you can use the fact that you have other children you are supporting!!!!!

thank you that sounds like the best alternative.

So what exactly is the difference between a review for reduction
and a modification?

Are these 2 similar circumstance or do you need more proof?

No, they mean the same thing. I hope it all works out for you!!! All you're trying to do is take care of your kids, but not really being able to take care of yourself financially can also be hard on the kids.....Hang in there...I'm sure it will work out.

Well another parent that want to do the right thing. It is so refreshing. I know you have an immediate problem. Find any agency you can to help you to make ends meet. Call around and don't give up after a few calls. There are many places to get food and even that can help a lot. But you might be able to get help for other things, like rent, utilities etc. Ask around. You are doing the right thing. If you do feel comfortable then pray about this. Tell God you are trying to do the right thing and ask Him to help you. It does work. I have seen it happen so many times. Take care and you are doing the right thing. You can write letters to your children to let them know you do love them. That helps.

You need to seek modification because you are not being left with subsistence. Talk to the mothers and also talk to the court. You have to be left with subsistence.
You need to file for a modification of support for less support based on changed circumstances and also seek adjustment of the arrears downward, namely 9-11, the loss of a good job, the inability to find another good job, and now holding down 2 full-time jobs with child support so great you cannot afford a place to live so you can go to work and hold those jobs. This is changed circumstances.
If you cannot afford an attorney, see if you can get one thru legal aid or legal services, or represent yourself. If you are not sure what to file, go to a site like uslegalforms.com and click on new york and child support forms to look at to get an idea of how to draft your own forms to the court.