In some cases, parents might think that letting the other parent off of the hook for child support is a way to get the child custody arrangement that that parents wants.For example, a mother might think that by offering to not make the father pay child support the father will agree to give her custody of the child.However, generally speaking, parents cannot waive the right to child support in the state of North Carolina. Child support is not intended to be used as a bargaining tool in child custody cases. It is ordered for the benefit of the child involved, and so neither parent has the authority to decide that it is not necessary.Child support is often calculated based on the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines. The guidelines take many variables into account, such as each parent's income, daycare expenses for the child, the cost of medical insurance for the child, and the child's living arrangements.In order for parents to agree to child support payments that are far outside of … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2015
Why a $975M divorce settlement check was rejected
The divorce of Harold and Sue Ann Hamm made headlines again this week after it was reported that Sue Ann rejected a personal check from Harold for $975 million, which would have settled the divorce.As we discussed in the last post on our blog, Sue Ann is holding out for an even larger settlement, asserting that she did not receive a fair share of the marital assets in the divorce ruling. While $975 million seems like it would be a large enough settlement for just about anyone to accept, attorneys for Harold said that Sue Ann rejected the check as she did not want the court to interpret her acceptance as grounds for dismissing her appeal in the case.Harold, who founded the energy company Continental Resources and is reportedly worth more than more than $8 billion, has also filed an appeal.Sue Ann was awarded $1 billion in the divorce, but Harold reportedly wrote out the rejected check after subtracting the money that he allegedly paid Sue Ann during the two-and-a-half-year-long … [Read more...]