A child Support lawyer can help you understand your legal rights and work with a judge to make sure that you and your children get the proper financial support. This money can help pay for things like food, clothing, education, and health care. Your judge will use a set formula to determine how much child support you and your ex are both legally obligated to pay. This will include your earnings, your ex’s income, and the cost of raising your children.
The amount of child support a court orders will also depend on whether either parent receives Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). SSDI is based on the length of time you worked and how much money you earned in your career. SSDI will be counted as income for purposes of determining child support, so the more you earn, the more you may be required to pay in child support.
In most states, the family law judge will follow state-specific guidelines for calculating the appropriate amount of child support to be paid. These guidelines will take into account the parents’ combined monthly gross income, the number of children shared by both parties, the custody schedule and each party’s relative time spent with the children, health insurance costs for the children, and other expenses. The judge has discretion to deviate from the guidelines, but this is generally only done when it is necessary to avoid an inappropriate or unjust result in a specific case.
Your Phoenix child support attorney can help you with your particular situation and guide you through the process of establishing or modifying a child support order. A lawyer can also help you deal with complex issues such as how to handle taxes and other unforeseen circumstances that may impact your child support obligation.
Once a child support order is established, it is enforceable in the same way as any other judicial order. A violation of a child support order can have serious consequences. In fact, some obligors have even been jailed for being found not in compliance with the terms of their court order. The government considers child support to be a priority financial obligation. It is not dischargeable in bankruptcy, and creditors are permitted to collect on child support owed by debtors.
When a parent pays child support, they are legally obligated to do so until their child turns 21, gets married, or dies. In addition, if a child lives in the same household as another person and does not live with their parents, they are considered emancipated.
A court will usually require that each parent provide medical support to the children in the form of health insurance or cash payments. In some cases, the court will order both parents to contribute to educational expenses for their children.
To change an existing child support order, a parent must prove that there has been a substantial change in circumstances. This can be a difficult task, and it is often best to hire a Phoenix child support attorney to assist with the matter. Click here to contact one.