Final court date for Child Support

Today was the last day for court. Thank goodness! This whole process has been exhausting. Lamonte’s payment amount has been set and I’ve been instructed to start saving any medical receipts for Makenna so that I can mail them to him for his records. According to the documentation he will have to pay ½ of all medical expenses including copays going forward. I didn’t know they would include all that. As for his monthly payment to me. If you do not factor in back child support and his portion to contribute to her health insurance he will be paying $169 a month. I know that doesn’t seem like much to some people but I’m just grateful to be getting something from him. Of course this won’t take effect until March of 2012 but at least all the paper work has been done. Everyone freaked when I told them how low it was but you have to consider his means of living. He already has two other children in which he will be paying child support for so the $169 is going to really hurt him. I honestly don’t know how he’ll be able to survive on his own financially with all this debt owed. Then if the 3rd woman in Florida decides to hit him up for child support for their son he will really be screwed. I truly do feel bad for him b/c with all his legal issues and child support he has been set up to fail. I don’t think it’s fair but at the same time it’s not fair to any of the other women either. I do think a man should be held as accountable as a woman. While he will have to struggle to make these payments I will be struggling right along with him. IF I ever receive any money from him it won’t even cover a week’s worth of child care. I don’t think that’s something men think about when they claim we’re all money hungry when asking for child support. Lamonte however has not complained. He’s actually made this process very easy on me which I’m also grateful for. For now he’s been set up with supervised visits but if he meets all his requirements he eventually will be able to take Makenna outside of our home for a few hours, then a day, then overnight, etc. It will all be a slow process but I have a good feeling about not having any issues where that is concerned. I think the only negative thing I can say about today was that I didn’t appreciate having to talk about our past relationship and issues. It was really hard but according to both the attorney and judge it was necessary when establishing visitation. There was a lot they wanted me to say that I kept in because I just felt like it was digging him a deeper grave. I don’t want to hurt him like that. Luckily for me the fact that he was incarcerated was enough of a reason to establish the supervision during visits. So glad this is finally over!