I hope someone can help. we arein TX Dh has one daughter with his ex. she is 6. They are going to a negotiation meeting on Tuesday and we have no idea what to expect. I have some questions about the support: 1-Do they determine support based on current checkstubs or by last year's tax papers gross income for the year? 2-We have 2 kids here and 1 on the way. do they take into consideration the children we have togther at all? 3-If the mother is not working (was in a car accident her fault from DWI but says she cannot work at her job as a "waitress" at a gentleman's club) how does that effect the support? Does that mean we pay more/less/or not change it at all? 4-Dh's job pays for his vehicle as it is only used as work. On the checkstub it is counted as a "fringe benefit". I thought that since it was mandatory for work and the company paid for it then it would not be counted as income. His company told him today that since it was taxed then it IS counted as income..is that correct? Now for the custody: The mother is clearly unfit. There have been numerous times where CPS was called on her by neighbors relatives everyone but CPS never did anything as far as I know. We know she has a drug habit and drinks (was in a car accident in June from her DWI) she does not care for either of her kids (one dh's one not)she doesn't work his daughter says she eats hotdogs and water everydayand she was angry when we would not come bail her out of jail!. Whenever hid daughter comes over she is in clothes that are too small shorts on during the winter she is dirty hungry and full of lice every time we get her. She always has some kind of vaginal problem..itching a rash etc....just unclean! We put in every dime we had last year for a lawyer who said "you have a good chance of getting custody" one day then once the check was written out he said "well unless you come in here with some evidnece and proof then it's impossible to prove her unfit. We knew it was just a bad lazy lawyer but were out of money. Now we pay so much in child support that we can't afford to hire another lawyer just for the fear it may be the same situation..we just can't afford it! I really am scared for the welfare of the child and this has just gone on long enough. Our home might not be big but it's the safest place for her. I have 2 kids 1 on the way and a 3 bedroom home. Even if the court did prove her unfit would they award us another child for a total of 4 children in a 3 bedroom home..? DH is behind in child support by about 2 years and i am afraid the courts will look at that like he didn't care. Which is not true.Where do I go when we are out of money but must get that child out of there??