If you’ve been fired or laid off, if you’re out of work or if your business isn’t producing cash, you may not have the income you need to comply with your child support obligation. Fortunately, a significant change of income yields grounds to file for a change of child support.
Get your child support orders modified if you can’t pay. If you don’t pay support on time, you can be assessed penalty interest, you might be held in contempt of the court that ordered you to pay support, and you could even end up in jail.
There are individual state child support laws covering how to modify a support payment. For the most accurate and current legal advice for your specific child support issue, you should contact the best child support attorney in your state.
What If I Can’t Afford My Child Support?
Non-custodial parents have to pay a monthly fee to the state child support services agency, which then provides the money to support the children. Penalties are issued for nonpayment, late payment, and partial payment of child support. If you are unable to afford to pay your existing child support obligation, you need to act fast to decrease your future child support payment requirements.
When your financial circumstances unexpectedly shift, you may find it difficult to come up with your monthly child support payment. A lot of people are living from paycheck to paycheck and any financial emergency or loss of any stream of income is devastating. A significant change of conditions may arise from:
- Lost investment returns
- Getting fired or laid off
- A reduction in hours or a demotion
- Rising Credit Card Debt
- Natural disaster
- Medical emergency
Does My Child Support Obligation Change if My Income Changes?
First court-ordered child support is determined according to each parent’s financial standing. Additional features child support covers child support options, such as providing for the child’s necessary needs such as:
- Access to health insurance
- Educational needs
- Travel expenses
- Child care expenses
- Special needs
Basically the child orders will not be changed unless, and until, the parents petition the court for a change. However, if your income takes a nose dive, you will continue to owe the original amount of child support at least until and unless you file a motion of your own to reduce child support.
Once a child support order becomes modified, the new child support is going to be determined in the same manner as the original child support, except the child support amount will be based on the current income of both parents as well as the needs of the child and any other children.
Will I Have to Pay Back Support After a Child Support Modification?
Child support modifications do not go retroactive. This will be limited only to the change in your future child support obligation, not to the past payments.
And when you do eventually successfully petition to change your payments, you will still owe any arrears, along with additional fines and penalties.
Is it possible that the CP can raise my support?
Either parent can file a request to review and adjust child support order at any time. In Tennessee, for example, a “material change” is needed to modify an order already in place. They will consider parent’s income information on a monthly and annual basis.
A parent may similarly apply to vary for the child care costs (to an extent) and the extra cash required for the amount of care or attention that is being spent on the child each year (extra on medical costs, support for education, health care).
Can I Have Child Support Arrears Forgiven?
In most cases, you are not able to forgive child support arrears. You are not off the hook from any back (past missed) support payments, after you have revised your child support orders. You could also be charged interest on overdue child support. But there may be some ways to mitigate your financial responsibilities for child support arrears, which could include:
- Negotiating a buy-out with the custodial parent for a lump-sum payment
- Negotiating with the court to suppress part of the unpaid interest.
- Petition for modification based upon parenting plan modification.
- Establish a payment plan to handle payment of outstanding arrears
There are very few ways to get child support arrears reduced or forgiven. Experienced counsel in family law matters perhaps could provide you with additional alternatives as to how to handle child support liabilities and also potentially reduce future payments to ensure that you don’t accrue further arrears.
Must I Pay Child Support If I’m Unemployed?
You may, however, end up paying some child support even if you are not employed. Once you have the first inkling that you may be laid-off, get in touch with the state child support agency OR your divorce lawyer for help. If you have difficulty providing child support, you can ask for a temporary modification of your payments.
If you are out of work you may be eligible for unemployment services. Your child support can be deducted off your unemployment to prevent more interest and penalties. If you are receiving Social Security or disability, your child support obligation can also be taken out of your monthly benefits payments.
In Alabama or other jurisdiction, based on the language of the order calling for the child support modification, the Judge may attempt to determine if the non-custodial parent is intentionally unemployed or attempting to mask their sources of income.
Under Texas law, where the court determines that the parent’s monthly net resources are substantially less than the amount the parent could earn if the parent was fully employed, the court may apply the guidelines to the potential income rather than to the actual income.
Can You Get Put in Jail for Not Paying Child Support?
The state has the power to send a parent to jail for failing to pay child support, but it is rare. The state has an interest in ensuring that you pay some amount of money towards the support of your child. It’s nearly impossible to pay money toward your child-support obligation if you are in jail. But there are a range of other penalties for not making child support payments.
Child Support Enforcement Depending on the state, the consequences of not paying child support may include:
- Your driver’s license being taken away
- Forfeiture of public benefits
- Passport restrictions
- Public housing lost
If you keep falling behind on child support, the court may hold you in contempt. The court can hit you with misdemeanor charges for the failure to pay child support, leading to a criminal record.
Not paying maintenance can also have your arrears start accumulating interest on the amount owed. It won’t reduce the debt if it’s not paid down; what you owe will go up rather than down.
Another possible action for collection of child support can be the filing of property liens or an access to your money in banks. Your bank account could be garnished or a lien could be placed on your car, home or real estate by the county child support enforcement office.
Following a notice of income withholding, the office of child support enforcement may collect the benefits through wage withholding. If you have already filed your taxes, the child support enforcement agency can intercept your tax refund and use it to pay your child support arrears.
