When a court-ordered child support arrangement becomes hard to fulfill, due to loss of income or any other serious issues, it may become possible to change the agreed-upon payment amounts. Any parent has the ability to petition for a child support modification. Here are some tips you can use to help you modify your child support order.
Gotta Go Fast!
If any parent finds themselves in a problem and cannot fulfill the payments, they will accumulate an account in arrears. Arrears are in essence, debt. Because you can accumulate child support debt (or arrears), you should initiate the modification process as soon as possible in order to avoid accruing too much money in arrears. Child support arrears are not claimable for bankruptcy, so act now.
Keep Researching
Parents involved with child support should always keep themselves informed of any laws pertaining to child support in the state in which they live. More importantly, they should be aware of what their state considers to be a significant enough change to modify the child support arrangement.
Negotiate
Before you submit a petition to modify your child support agreement with the court, we recommend trying to always negotiate with the other parent. Remember that mediation is a powerful tool for parents that cannot reach an agreement together.
Keep Up Your End of the Agreement
Even though a parent may not be able to pay the full amount of their child support, they should always pay as much as they can until the child support agreement can be changed. The most effective strategy is to attempt to pay as much as possible so that the judge can see your struggles with fulfilling your payments. Only submit a petition for modifications while you are still paying child support. You should never use a petition as a way to refuse to pay child support, as this will be easily detected and rejected by the court.
Modifying your child support arrangement is not a simple thing to achieve. There are many intricacies and laws that go into lowering your child support amount. Speak to an experienced family law attorney to get the best advice and strategy to help you reduce your child support the right way. Call our offices during regular business hours to see how our expert family law attorneys can help you lower your child support.
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