Reasons To Enforce Your Child Support Arrangement
So your divorce is final, and your child support order is in place. You are living your life post-divorce. But in life, circumstances change often. You may encounter reasons to revisit your child support agreement. Whether you are paying or receiving support, there are several moving parts in how the court calculates child support.
There are some situations where you can file in court for child support modification by yourself. But in any legal case, it is always advisable to get the counsel of wise family law lawyers, such as the lawyers of The Law Office of Daniel J. Wright.
If you want a judge to review your request to change child support, a significant change in your circumstances must occur. Reasons to request child support modification can include:
- Decrease of Income – The court considers it a significant change if the payer of child support loses his or her job, or suffers a significant decrease in income
- Increase in Income – If your ex-spouse receives a substantial boost in income or net worth, you may be eligible to decrease your financial obligation because the other party now has the means to contribute a larger portion to child expenses. Typically, this occurs when an ex-spouse goes back to work or receives a substantial, life-changing inheritance or financial settlement.
- Increase in Expenses – Children’s needs change. As children get older, their expenses can increase for a variety of reasons, such as medical expenses, private school tuition, sports costs, etc.
- Change in Custody Split – If custody terms are modified and you now have the children significantly more or less than previously, there is a good chance the judge would grant a change in child support amounts.
- Child Turns 18 – Child support typically ends when a minor child reaches age 18, or graduates from high school, whichever is later. If your child turns 18 before high school graduation, hopefully, that was written into your original child support agreement. If not, you will likely need to file for a modification in the court order. In most cases, it is stipulated in the court documents that support ends automatically when the child reaches legal adulthood, and no further action on your part is needed to stop support payments.
- Remarriage or more children – If one parent remarries or has additional children, they often put a motion before the court to decrease child support to the original children in order to have more resources to divide amongst all children. Remarriage doesn’t always trigger a need for change, but it usually does affect that parent’s income. If you’re the receiving parent and you remarry, a judge may reduce your child support amount because your household has more income. But this is not always the case because child support is the child’s right, not the parent’s right.
Whatever your individual circumstance, any time you think that it is warranted to request child support modification, you should consult an experienced family law lawyer. We know the law and have your best interests at heart. Moreover, we can ensure that your rights are asserted.