Should I Put Myself On Child Support?

Q: Me and my ex wife have a 50-50 legal and physical custody agreement over our son. She has mon/tues, I have weds/thurs, and we alternate fri/sat/sun every week. we got divorced and in our agreement is that she would NEVER ask for child support from me. However, after speaking to another lawyer I have come to understand that although that’s our agreement, there is a way for her to ask for child support later. So the deal is I make about 30K more than my ex wife, but I have my son 50% of the time, pay all of his child care and all his medical insurance and expenses. Now the reason I’m asking if I should put myself on child support is because although right now me and my ex are on good terms I don’t believe that it is likely to stay that way for long periods of time and she is very vengeful. On top of that I have changed my career path and in the next 5 or so years I should be getting pay increases of 40-50k more annually. So with all that said should I voluntarily put myself on, or come to agreement outside of court and file it, because if I do so its unlikely she would know or care to do a modification. I live in the state of NY just FYI. I appreciate any and all feedback thank you.

A: There’s no such thing as “putting oneself on child support.” Whether she wishes to file a modification application or not is up to her. And one would need to review the exact language in the agreement to render a definitive opinion on her chances. All that said, your best chess move would be to have a “kitchen table discussion” with her & ask her if she needs you to pay some extra amounts for items like clothes, school supplies, etc. Generally-speaking, the more you keep Mom happy, the less likely it’ll be that she’ll drag you back into court. Schedule a consult with a Westchester Family Law attorney for a full assessment.