Child support tends to be one of the most critical subjects during a family law case. Children have specific needs which need to be attended to regularly. Many of these needs are financial. Paying for food, clothing, shelter, medication, and other costs is a major part of your parenting life. You and your co-parent know what it is like to shoulder a tremendous burden associated with the life of your child. You know what it takes to raise a child together with this person. Some challenges come both financial and otherwise.
When entering a child support case there are several factors to consider. Most notable is how much you need to pay your co-parent each month in support. For today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, we will be writing from the perspective of a parent who pays child support. As in, we are assuming that you are a parent who has the responsibility to pay for child support. However, if you are a parent who receives child support this blog post can be helpful to you too.
Defining our terms: custodial versus noncustodial parent
Before we go any further in today’s blog post, I think it is helpful to look at this issue based on the terms associated with you and your co-parent. This is not going to be an article that goes deep into family law jargon and terminology. For that, contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan for a free-of-charge consultation. We can answer your questions and walk you through all the family law-specific words and jargon you would like. For today, we are going to look at a case on a general level. We want to answer as many questions as possible for a wide variety of individuals.
However, two terms that we think are important to go over are custodial versus noncustodial parents. A custodial parent is a parent with whom your children reside primarily. As in, your children live with this parent. When you are a custodial parent you have the responsibility of caring for your children on a day-in and day-out basis. Since the children live with you that also means that you have the responsibility to pay for their day-to-day needs. Since these costs add up the State of Texas wants you as the co-parent to shoulder your share of that responsibility.
If you pay child support then you are known as the non-custodial parent. You have visitation rights concerning your children but they do not live with you. Rather, you see your children on a set schedule as outlined in your family court orders. Additionally, you share decision-making capabilities and responsibilities with your co-parent. In other words, you jointly manage the affairs of your children with your co-parent.
How is child support calculated?
Child support is calculated based on whatever method you and your co-parent choose to use. You all are the ultimate determiners of how child support is calculated. You can use a very complex method to calculate child support or something simple. Or, you two can choose to use the guideline child support calculation method. This is found in the Texas Family Code. The guideline method of child support calculation determines child support based on the net monthly resources of the non-custodial parent and the number of children before the court.
It is the net monthly resources that you earn that may change over time. You must be able to submit an accurate representation of your net monthly resources at the time that your child support is calculated. The failure to do so may result in your child support being either severely under or overpaid. When your child’s well-being hangs in the balance getting this figure right makes all the sense in the world. You also do not want to put yourself in a position where you cannot afford to pay the support that you are ordered to.
Working with an experienced family law attorney matters a great deal when it comes to calculating child support. As a noncustodial parent, there is a lot of responsibility riding on your shoulders as far as getting the proper calculation set up for child support. Failing to do so means that you are potentially harming your child as well as yourself. An experienced family law attorney with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan can help you arrive at an appropriate amount of child support.
Look at your income to determine why your child support may fluctuate
The amount of child support that you are ordered to pay will be outlined in your court orders. Make sure you understand your orders before the conclusion of your family law case. Failing to do so can complicate the payment of child support in the future. This is a situation that you will want to avoid if possible. If anything, you should want the payment of your child support to be as streamlined as possible. This helps your child and prevents you from having to go through difficult discussions with your co-parent.
Sometimes you may notice that your child support payment varies from month to month. The Office of the Attorney General- Child Support Division receives payments directly from your employer. This means that the child support payments you send should not go from you to your co-parent directly. Rather, the OAG receives them and then credits you with those payments. Direct payment of child support is unofficial and will not be reflected on your record. This is a potential problem for parents like you.
In your court orders the amount that you are obligated to pay in child support remains constant. These orders do not change over time. However, some parents in your shoes do notice that their obligation to pay child support does change from month to month. For instance, when you check the OAG website you may notice that the amount received from your employer changes somewhat on a month-to-month basis. Here are some explanations for this.
Falling behind in paying child support
One of the realities of a child support case is that you may have fallen behind in your payments over time. This may be because of losing a job, becoming ill, or needing to care for an ill relative. When you have any disruptions to your income that may result in a diminished ability to pay child support. When this happens, you would need to fall back on your savings or risk falling behind in child support. If you are like most Americans, then having any money in savings is a struggle.
When you fall behind in child support there is no need to panic. Panicking only forces you deeper into a hole that becomes harder to dig yourself out. First, assess how far behind you have fallen in your child support payments. Depending upon the extent of your arrears you may be able to simply pay what is owed out of your savings. If you do not have savings then you can see what can be sold immediately to risk falling further behind. If your income interruption is only temporary then you may want to go this route and leave it at that.
However, if your income interruption is going to be permanent or indefinite then a different course of action needs to be taken. The ability for you to pay child support is not a momentary blip, in other words. This is the type of circumstance where you need to reach out to your co-parent to talk with him or her about what is happening in your life. Doing this immediately reduces the risk that your co-parent will hold you responsible for things that are largely out of control. Most people react better to bad news when it is discussed with them directly rather than hidden from them.
Consequences of the failure to pay child support due to an income disruption
Experiencing a disruption in your income may be unavoidable at times. However, that does not mean that it is impossible to account for or deal with once you start to experience this circumstance.
For one, start to look at your finances more closely. Do you have any money in savings that can immediately be used to pay down the back child support you owe? Even a few thousand dollars may get you caught up. This buys you time until you can figure out what to do with your income. Finding a new job? Waiting for your income to get caught back up to speed? Consider your specific type of work and the circumstances surrounding it.
When you fall behind in paying child support you should talk to your co-parent about it. Be honest with him or her. As we just talked about before- a person who is told directly about bad news is more likely to respond favorably. Trying to hide the issue can only work for so long. Eventually, your co-parent will check their bank account and discover a lack of child support. On top of that, it can feel disrespectful when you are not told the real reason for something happening.
In any event, unless you are quickly able to resume your income at its prior level there are consequences to look at. Families do not always know how to approach problems like this. For that reason, it is wise to have an experienced family law attorney with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan walk with you during this time. We can analyze the situation with you and provide you with advice based on your specific circumstances.
Modifying child support
Let’s suppose you start to see the amount of child support coming out of your paycheck getting bigger and bigger. You realize that because of a change in the taxes you have withheld your take-home pay has increased. With that in mind, your child support obligation increases. Other changes to your income include the removal of a vehicle credit and gas money. In short, your income has been fluctuating like crazy. The net result of these changes is that your child support payment has changed over the past few months.
The change has not been one in your favor. Your payments average over $200 more now than they did last year. Over the year that works out to over $2500. No wonder your budget has been pinched of late. You start to think about what your options may be. The wage withholding order set up by the court orders your employer to withhold a certain amount of money each month. However, it is a minimum amount of money. More can be sent to the OAG if needed.
Modifying child support means identifying a change in your circumstances that is material and substantial. From there, you would need to show that the change proposed is in the best interests of your child. If you are successful in doing this then you may be able to decrease your child support obligation. Keep in mind that your co-parent may ask a court to increase your child support if your income goes up.
Enforcing a child support order
On the other hand, a child support order can also be enforced by your co-parent. This happens when you do not pay child support as ordered over an extended period. For instance, suppose that your income interruption occurs for six months consecutively. Your company goes out of business. Then, you rely on unemployment for six weeks until you find a contract job that pays half what you used to make. From there, you finally landed a similar job as you held before.
However, the damage has been done. You owe your co-parent $6,000 in back child support. With no money in savings and debt piling up from other expenses you are not able to pay her back quickly. To compound the issue, you did not talk to your co-parent about the loss of your job. Rather, you kept that to yourself. Pride prevented you from coming clean and opening up about the disruption to your income. Now you are facing a lawsuit as a result.
Enforcement cases are no joke. They carry with them significant penalties if you are found to have violated your court order. Penalties, fines, and even jail time are associated with not paying child support. Expect to be told to pay your co-parent a lump sum payment of child support quickly. Then, you are likely going to be put on a payment plan for paying her back the child support. So much for having your child support reduced.
Final thoughts on the payment of irregular child support
Finding out that your child support payments have fluctuated is not our phone experience. Most of us have household budgets that do not allow for much in the way of unexpected changes to our bills. Child support may be for a very important purpose but it may be budgeted as just another expense. Expenses that change dramatically throughout a short period two in a financial pinch. Understandably, there is good reason to expect that with these changes may come additional challenges both now and in the future.
When you encounter difficulties with paying child support it is best to look closely at your court orders. Was there something included in the court orders that you did not understand or that you may have misinterpreted? For example, you may have misread some aspects of your court orders. If this is the case it is best to review your court orders regularly so that you can be sure of understanding what your obligations are for child support.
Finally, address any misunderstandings or problems directly with your co-parent. It is not a fun position to be in when you are struggling to pay child support. However, that does not mean there is no hope for you. Directly confronting this problem with your co-parent means you can avoid the unpleasantness of a child support enforcement case. It also allows you to care for your child to the best of your abilities.
Addressing questions about child support
Whatever questions you have about the material contained in this blog post can be addressed to the attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. Our experienced attorneys have walked with families just like yours through similar circumstances. Thank you for joining us here today on our blog. We post unique and informative content about Texas family law each day of the week.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan offer free of charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way for you to learn more about the world of Texas family law. Before signing a document or negotiating on a subject you do not know well, contact our office. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you during an important part of your life. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan is on your side.
Evan Hochschild was raised in Houston, TX and graduated from Cypress Creek High School. He went on to graduate from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX with an undergraduate degree in Political Science. While in college, Evan was a four-year letterman on the Cross Country team.
Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle before him, Evan attended law school after he completed in his undergraduate studies. He graduated from St. Mary’s University School of Law and has practiced in a variety of areas in the law- including family law.
Mr. Hochschild is guided by principles which place the interests of clients first. Additionally, Evan seeks to provide information and support for his clients with the heart of a teacher.
Evan and his wife have four small children together. He enjoys afternoons out and about with his family, teaching Sunday school at his church and exercising. A veteran attorney of fourteen years, Mr. Hochschild excels in communicating complex ideas in family law simply and directly.
