With thousands of hours in court as a skilled and talented family law attorney in New Mexico who has handled countless child support cases, The Law Office of Anthony Griego has personally witnessed the disastrous consequences of someone manipulating their child support payments without the approval of the court.
Why It’s Important for Parents in Albuquerque to Take Their Child Support Obligations Seriously
Love is what keeps the emotional connection between you and your child, but financial support is what provides for your child’s physical needs. In Albuquerque, neglect or failure to meet mandatory child support payments can actually be seen by the state of New Mexico as physical neglect or negligence.
Child support agreements are as binding as a business contract and ignoring them can lead to devastating financial, legal and personal outcomes. If you do not comply with your child support obligations you will be severely penalized by New Mexico’s CSED division as well as by state court judges in the Albuquerque area.
Parents in Albuquerque Face Serious Consequences for Refusing to Make Child Support Payments
There are a variety of legal and monetary consequences for parents who elect to cease child support payments:
- Court Ordered: Child support payments are part of a court mandate. A failure to pay causes you to become in contempt of court, and judges in Albuquerque are not shy about imposing large fees or incarceration for contempt of court.
- Wage Garnishment: The custodial parent may file a Request for Wage Withholding with the courts. If the request is pursued and granted, the Child Support Enforcement Division also called CSED will take support payments directly out of the wages of the parent who is paying child support and send that money to the parent who is receiving support. Once an order is in place, it will remain so even if the paying parent changes jobs.
- Seizing Assets: In cases where the parent withholds child support and is not an earner of W2 income or has a significant arrearage, CSED can seize funds directly from bank accounts or liquid assets to pay support.
- Tax Interception: Unpaid child support can result in interception of federal and/or state tax refunds.
- Real Property Liens: Similar to any other creditor, a parent owed arrears child support can request that a court impose a lien on the debtor’s real estate. As a result these liens essentially preclude the sale or refinancing of the property until the debt is paid.
- License Cancellation: Failure to pay child support can result in the cancellation of one’s driver’s license, professional licenses, and recreational licenses, like hunting or fishing.
- Passport Denial: Parents who are not compliant with child support may not be eligible to receive a passport or may have their existing passport revoked.
- Credit Damage: Failure to pay is usually reported to credit agencies and negatively impacts a parent’s ability to get future loans as well as their credit score.
- Interest on Back Support: New Mexico allows interest to accrue on back child support payments, creating an exponential growth on the total amount owed by a parent.
And importantly these risks don’t end when your child does turn 18. Parents can be held accountable for back/interest payments for years.
Beyond the Legal and Financial Risks of Nonpayment
Also, it should be noted that nonpayment also entails social and psychological risks.
Court records in New Mexico are relatively easy to access. If they wished to, your gossiping neighbor, a new romantic partner or a prospective business partner could order a background check and learn that you were once found in contempt of court due to non- child support payments.
Even if you are otherwise parent of the year, if a stranger knows you have a history of nonpayment, they may make an assumption about your trustworthiness or financial solvency.
Children can similarly learn of their parent’s hesitance to pay for child support. They can count nonpayment in their mind with your opinion of them. It can also be devastating to their esteem and sense of worth. It can also damage your bond with your own child if he believes you don’t love him.
None of this need happen if you instead petition the courts for a decrease in child support rather than attempting to do so on your own.
Albuquerque Parents Can Take Steps to Reduce Their Child Support Payments
Since the establishment of your child support order, your life, your ex’s life and your child’s life have all changed. If that change is significant, it is only fair that your child support order also change.
As the process to ask for child support modification is quite simple legally, The Law Office of Anthony Griego LLC can help you create a new agreement that will adequately provide for your child while not over-stretching your finances.
Serving Families with Dignity & Compassion
If your court ordered child support payments no longer fit your lifestyle, perhaps it’s time to pursue a child support modification to address your and your child’s needs. But, parents in the Albuquerque area can consider the risks for choosing to do so themselves. Child support nonpayment also has legal, monetary, and social ramifications.
For Albuquerque parents hoping to decrease their child support payments, consulting with an experienced family law lawyer like Anthony Griego, founding member of The Law Office of Anthony Griego LLC is essential to understand how to appropriately pursue a legal modification of payments.
Bob can help you in developing a child support payment plan that fits with your child custody agreement and reflects your family’s experiences, values, and goals.
Call The Law Office of Anthony Griego to schedule a consultation to discuss your case.
