Okay, cowboys, pull up a bit here.
First,
@KKaren, you’re talking about recovery of a child support debt, not an assessment. You have to be assessed to pay child support before you can fall into arrears for not paying it, and you have to fall into arrears before the court will order a party to sell assets as a means to debt recovery. What won’t happen is an order to sell assets just for an assessment.
Second,
@Tomlin, the amount a person pays in child support is dependent on care percentages and taxable income, not simply because ‘the kids need to live to’. A parent who earns nothing may be assessed to pay nothing. Again, they also won’t be ordered to sell assets for an assessment.
@OP, you won’t be ordered to pay child support on your husband’s behalf, unless it is found that neither of the children’s parents can sufficiently support the children themselves. He won’t be ordered to sell his car just for an assessment (but if he’s using it to earn an income, such as renting it for weddings or some such, then that income will be taken into account by CSA when assessing his taxable income).
But he does need to speak to CSA, or risk them making an assessment without his input. They may look to past tax returns or to the mother’s submitted material to determine whether and how much child support he should be paying. If the mother requests it, CSA can also assess against potential earning capacity rather than actual earnings.
