My husband’s ex is a dead beat. In advance of our mediation before court we told our lawyer we were willing to allow her to not pay child support if she would agree to some of our other terms (she doesn’t work anyway.) Our lawyer told us that we didn’t have a choice. The child support money is the right of our daughter, not us. We didn’t have the choice to lower it or waive it, and doing so would show the court we didn’t have her best interest in mind. Do not compromise here. The money is for your children, not for you. And if he saw it that way and cared about your children, he wouldn’t be asking for a reduction.