The NCP is taking me to court to see if he can claim the children on taxes, he only sees them 2 weeks in the summer and alt holidays. I have sole legal physical custody and am wondering if I do a CS increase havent had one in 8 yrs and he is now making a lot more money if a judge would give him more visitation which hes asking for 4 weeks this summer also for visitation please help thanks.
Child support and custody/visitation do not go hand-in-hand. They are completely separate matters based on completely different facts and completely different statutes and standards.
Child support is based on the gross income of each party, child-related medical expenses, work-related day care expenses, and support of other children to determine what is the proper guideline amount of support under Va. Code Section 20-108.2. Once that is determined, the court may in its discretion take other factors and circumstances into account and deviate from the guidelines (up or down) where the court believes it is warranted.
The only way in which custody and visitation efffect child support at all is: (1) who is the custodial parent who will be receiving the support, (2) whether sole or shared guidelines apply (based on the number of 24 hour days that the child is with each parent during the year), (3) as may related to arguments about whether work-related child care expenses should be allowed (for ex., the NCP asserts they are available & willing to watch the child while the CP is at work, thereby negating the need for a third-party daycare provider), and (4) deviation issues (for ex., in a case where the CP has moved 3000 miles away with the child, resulting in the thousands of dollars of travel expenses for the NCP to exercise visitation).
Custody and visitation determinations are based on the "best interests of the child" taking into account all of the relevant factors set forth in Va. Code Section 20-124.3. Even a NCP who is significantly non-compliant with his child support obligations can still assert visitation rights (and vice versa). It is not a pay to see, pay more to see more sort of situation! Whether the judge will find that an additional 4 weeks of visitation with the NCP is in the child's best interest, I can't say. It will depend on your specific child, the specific history of your situation, how much visitation NCP currently has and whether he has been using it, and a whole host of other factors. None of that decision will be based on whether or not you asked for an increasing in child support.
One additional note: if NCP is asking for tax exemptions for children, you will want to prepare a sample tax return for 2011 showing the difference in what your tax would be if you lose the deduction and what it is with you having that deduction. Then, break that difference down on a monthly basis. You want to be able to show the court that your net take home pay will be reduced by "x" dollars per month if the NCP is given the deduction instead of you. You can then tell the judge that you are requesting that the court deviate upward from the guideline amount of support by the amount of that reduction in your net pay. For ex., if you would have owed $2400 more in taxes for 2011 if you had not been able to deduct your child on your return, then that means you would have $200 less per month in net/disposable income to support your child with. So, if NCP is going to get that deduction (which could be worth $5000 a year if he earns substantially more than you), you would like to get at least an extra $200 per month in child support as the CP. The court may or may not grant that request, but you should at least aks for it.
