When a parent is awarded custody of their child, it is common for the other parent to have to pay child support. The courts decide upon the amount of child support that is to be paid by evaluating certain criteria. Even though these criteria may result in a parent paying a certain amount in child support, this doesn’t mean they will have to continue to pay that specific amount every month.
There are incidents that can occur that may cause you to consider requesting to change your child support order. If you find that you have a change in circumstances that may allow you to decrease or increase the amount you pay in child support, you may want to submit a request to change to your child support order.
When submitting the request to change the child support order, you do not need the other parent to agree. The process would be easier if they agreed upon the modification, but even if they do, the modifications will have to be looked over and approved by a judge. In many cases, the judge may only modify the child support order if either parent changes job, there’s an increase in cost of living, child’s needs increase or either parent becomes disabled.
If a permanent change can’t be made, temporary modification is a possibility. When this happens, the temporary change can be granted due to you being unable to pay because of a loss of employment, the recipient parent experiencing a hardship or the child having a medical emergency.
If you wish to request a change in your child support order, the Law Office of Nancy H. Boler may be able to assist you with the process.
