I am responsible to pay child support w/ my ex who has a felony. This felony is preventing her from getting a job. The Judge set her income ...

Question

I am responsible to pay child support w/ my ex who has a felony. This felony is preventing her from getting a job. The Judge set her income at zero and even though she only has the kids 4 days a month, I still pay her. The judge said that I am responsible to pay child support even though she has a criminal record which is making it hard for her to find work. Is this accurate?

Answer

Yes. The money is for the benefit of the children, even though she gets it. Otherwise, how does she feed the kids when she has them?

Answer

A felony does not prevent anyone from getting a job. Makes it really hard, but they can find work if they try. For that reason the court has the power to either impute income to the non-working spouse, or issue a zero-income support order conditioned on a find-work order that requires periodic proof of efforts to find work. Unfortunately a judge can't help either side, so if you didn't ask for imputed income or a find-work order, you're stuck unless and until you go back to court and ask for a modification of the orders.