My ex husband moved 700 miles away 5 months ago and has only seen our children 4 times during 5 months. He moved away for work and was suppose to come back to our area by now, and he has decided to stay where he is to continue working. He is making double the amount of money as he was here, and in the beginning he was paying me $40 extra a week for help with our children then after he got mad at me reduced it down to what he has to pay. I have been unable to find work, I home school our youngest child, and I am a student myself with no government help. I provide a home, and do my best to keep food on the table, but his argument to money is that I don't' have a job. Is there any kind of law that would help me since I have full responsibility of our children 100% of the time?
Changes in visitation/parenting time and changes in income are both potential reasons to file for modification of support, and it would be worth your while to sit down with a lawyer to review your current order and financial details to assess if filing is a good idea.
You don't say whether the original child support Order has ever been modified and if so, when it was last modified, which can impact your ability to file for a modification of support at this time. You also don't say if you were working when the last Order was entered and if you have had a material change in your income and financial status. If your ex husband has had a material change in his income and financial status or if the needs of your children have changed materially, then that would be a basis to request a modification in child support. All that said, I'm not sure why you're home schooling one of your children, if he or she has special needs, and if teaching him or her and pursuing your own education keeps you from being able to work even part-time, perhaps from home, but you need to share all the relevant facts with an attorney, complete a child support worksheet, see what the presumptive child support amount should be and whether it would be worthwhile for you to pursue a modification action against your ex husband. If he went were he needed to in order to work and support his family and has managed to come back to visit the children on a regular basis, that's wonderful and not a basis on which to fault him. However, if his child support is not what the guidelines indicate he should be paying, if he has had a material change in his income and financial status, and/or if the children's needs have changed materially, then filing a modification action would be appropriate.
Any of the events you described, relocation, increase in pay, decrease in pay, etc., may be argued to be "major changes in circumstances" which would justify an action to modify either visitation, custody or child support. There are a number of other issues identified in you question, though, including where the appropriate forum would be for such an action. While your ex might argue it should be brought where he is, he did not move there with an intention to remain there (according to what you wrote) and he has made this decision only recently. All of these facts should be evaluated (as well as additional facts--are you capable of or have been offered a job and refused, has there been a modification action recently) by an attorney to help you make a decision. You need to do this sooner rather than later because timing can be critical when it comes to relocations.
