If My Ex-Wife Gets Remarried, Does It Affect Our Child Support Agreement?
If you are paying child support to an ex-spouse and he or she gets remarried, will that lower your monthly financial support payment? The answer to that varies somewhat from state to state, but in most cases, if there are no other circumstances to consider, your child support payment will stay the same.
In this Divorced Fathers Rights guide discusses whether your child support payments will be affected if your ex gets remarried.
Remarriage Does Not Change Child Support Agreements
Most state laws view it this way: Any child is the responsibility of the birth parents alone, not a new spouse for either one of the parents. Therefore, remarriage does not affect a father’s responsibility to continue to pay his fair share of the child’s necessary support. This is true in theory even if the mother remarries a multimillionaire. The new stepfather is not responsible for children that are not his biological children.
Some states will modify this perspective very slightly, but few will wholly take into consideration the income of the stepfather.
What Can Affect the Child Support Agreement?
The incomes of the two birth parents are really the only things that affect the amount of money paid in a child support agreement. If the father’s income were to go down significantly, he can petition the court for a change in the amount paid. In most states, the level of child support would be adjusted downward based on his ability to pay.
The reason for this is obvious: If the parents were still married or together, a decline in the income of the father would affect the lifestyle of the children. So, in divorced situations, it is fair that a decline in the father’s income would have an impact.
If the father’s income goes up, he can notify the court and a change can be made upward. If the mother is aware of the income increase, she can petition the court for an increase in support.
In addition, in some states, if the mother’s income significantly increases, the father can ask to have his obligation lowered. In most cases, he won’t be successful. The court will state that if the parents were married, the increase in the mother’s income would benefit the children’s lifestyle. Therefore, it should not be mitigated by lowering the support level the father is responsible for. His ability to pay is the sole criterion for setting his child support level.
Check with your divorce attorney or the court if you have any questions about how your state handles these matters. The vast majority of them follow guidelines given above or ones very much like them.