I have a child support order in Santa Clara County California. As the non-custodial parent, I am ordered to pay $893.00 a month. The order started in 1997.

I found out today that my child support is acutely $562.00 each month and the remaining $332.00 difference is being allocated towards child care. When the order was established in 1997, my daughter was 3 years old and in day care. She is nopw 11 years old and attends a catholic school at her mom’s discretion.

I would like to know if I have a reason to modify the child care portion of the support order. It seems to me that if the mom has chosen private school over public then she should be responsible for the costs.

Well, if you have joint custody, it is your decision too whether the child goes to public or private school. But since it is happening, you are liable for half, so going back to court with the child at a private school may cause your support to go up, not down. as for your desire to send the child to public school, that could be litigated, but since you did not oppose it early on, likely to not change. But you may want it to be known that you want the child to start attending public school in the future and have reasons besides money like getting along in a diverse world with people from different backgrounds. People have different views on education and whether public or private school is best for a child. So before you request that change, be able to back up your position with something besides money concerns. The court looks at the best interest of the child.

matthew1666: I would like to know if I have a reason to modify the child care portion of the support order

Any "change in circumstance" -- you make less money, your time-sharing arrangement with your child has changed, your child attended day care and now she doesn't, etc -- can serve as reason for the court to adjust your future payments. As a general rule, the court will not unwind (refund you) any payments you have already made.

In California, we have what is referred to as "guideline support," which is based on a complex mathematical formula taking into account your income/expenses, your ex's income/expenses, % of time child is with you/wife, etc. After analyzing that - guidleine support is determined. To that, a judge has discretion to "add on" other things like private schooling.

Bottom Line: Consult with a family law attorney in your area. He/she can analyse the specifics of your situation and make an educated guestimate of what a judge may do to your current support payments -- increase, decrease or keep them the same. You may be surprised to learn that you have a pretty good deal (or not) the way things currently are, but there is no way to know for sure without "running the numbers."