If you are dealing with an out of control child support situation, working with an experienced child support attorney is highly advised. Without the appropriate legal representation, there can be serious consequences if you do not respond timely or appropriately to a court order to pay child support. The consequences can include jail time, hefty fines, loss of driver’s license, probation, community service, and many more. There are several things to remember when hiring a child support attorney to help you resolve your child support obligations.
Make sure you understand the rules that apply in your state. Child support laws vary widely from state to state. Many states have a one size fits all rule where the court is told that the obligation pays child support only upon the conclusion of a divorce action. On the other hand, many other states have a sliding scale of child support payments that start low and increase as the parents’ circumstances change.
You need a thorough understanding of the legal procedures and processes that go along with filing for child support. Without this legal documentation from the court, it will be difficult to determine who is paying which payments. Without this documentation, the obligation (you) may not know what you have rights and limitations regarding your legal rights to make adjustments to your current child support payments. An experienced attorney will give you the guidance you need to protect your legal rights and ensure your payments are fair and reasonable.
Get a divorce summary of the child support payments being ordered. This will give you a full picture of your legal rights and any possible adjustments to your child support payments. If the non-custodial parent (or the custodial parent if your child has been adopted) requests more time to get on track with a visitation or wants more time to pursue the other parent’s claims of paternity, this will also be noted. Without the custody order in place, you cannot do anything about these things. However, if you get the custody order in place with modifications, you can seek to have those modifications made to reflect your needs and the needs of your child.
If any obligations are currently being violated make sure you discuss them with your child support attorney. Most attorneys will advise you to seek restitution for any money that has been paid but yet are not being received. Some might even recommend that you seek retroactive child support assistance. With retroactive assistance, your attorney can file paperwork to the courts to seek an alteration to the current order to reinstate payments. This means that if the recipient of the payments did not pay alimony at the time of the order, they can be made to pay that money back to the payer once they have gotten custody of the children.
One other area to discuss with your child support attorney is how to handle various post-divorce issues, such as any possible spousal support or child support arrears. These debts may never have been meant to be part of the divorce proceedings. They could have been part of a prior settlement agreement, or they might have been part of the agreement when the couple was married. Again, they might have become owing by the other spouse during the divorce. If this is the case, then it may be in your best interest to seek legal assistance with post-divorce debt management.
Glen W. Wood 