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It's hard for me to understand why my wife makes waiving child support in the future such a big problem. We have been married for nine years and have three children. We are both teachers and do well as teachers, but that is partly because we tutor, coach, and work at summer camps. We are trying to handle the divorce process on our own since neither of us has extra money to pay lawyers.
I thought I understood the alimony law correctly – if one of us received alimony, it would end after about 7.5 years. Since our incomes are within $20,000 of each other, I'm not sure why she thinks future alimony payments should be left open. It seems like she's only entitled to about $6,500 a year if I continue to do all the extra work.
Am I misunderstanding the child support guidelines or are we both just overthinking it?
Just because alimony is not being paid now does not mean that nothing will change in the future that would justify such an order. One of you could become ill and no longer be able to work; One of your children could become ill and prevent one of you from working. One of you could change careers and suddenly earn significantly more money. It is hard to predict the future because you are signing an agreement today.
Take a step back and think about it from your wife's perspective. They are both smart people and she has probably read the child support and support laws too. At the moment, neither of you is entitled to support payments from the other, as your combined income appears to be within the amount that is only eligible for child support. When calculating the maintenance period, the years run parallel to the years in which child maintenance is paid. In seven and a half years, you still have three children who are not working, so there is no support unless there is a career change that results in significantly higher income. Realistically, this means that neither of you will ever be eligible for alimony. As you rack your brain thinking about why she would want a safety net that will probably never be used, you realize that the safety net protects you too.
There is no need to argue about this topic. Agree to waive past and present alimony payments and leave future alimony payments open for modification if circumstances materially change. So that there are no misunderstandings, you can specify in the agreement the time limit for future alimony payments, if any.
If you are stuck on such an issue, you should hire a family law attorney to act as an intermediary and help you finalize the agreement.
For more information, see the Boston Herald
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