Child Support & VA Disability

Question:

I am 100% disabled. I previously had 15% visitation, had income of 1800 and paid 240 in support. With disability, I have 15% visitation, income of 3600, and pay 681. I’m not sure why my support tripled when my income only doubled. Is there only a percentage that support can use as income? Or touch? It is my only income

Jim's Reply:

VA disability payments are meant to raise the veterans overall income to a point that he or she could have been earning if not for the disabling condition. In other words, if you are paid $1000.00 per month in disability pay that indicates that VA believes that without the disabling condition, you'd have earned an extra $1000.00 each month.

That makes no sense in the economy of today, the way VA calculates it is a holdover from the days when America was an agrarian society and most Americans worked on farms. A fellow who lost an arm in combat would make less than a man with 2 arms and so on. Of course that's no longer true but VA hasn't changed how it does things.

That's important to understand because a man (or woman) earns an income to support himself and the family. If he divorces, that income is what is used to base his child support and alimony on. Since your VA pay replaces the potential income you would have had, it's then used as income by the court to calculate what you owe. The court doesn't really care where the income is from, just that it's there and countable.

I can't answer to why your payments went up other than to say that more income means higher payments and as the kids grow, their needs change and they get more expensive. If you're ever unhappy with any of the terms of your divorce, the only place to turn is back to the court for a modification hearing. 

 


Source URL: https://www.statesidelegal.org/child-support-va-disability