Child support is the means of an ex-spouse that does not have custody of the child to financially support the wellbeing of a child. It is often a heated debate among parents regarding who needs to pay, how much should be paid, and the frequency of payment. The good news is that the state has requirements on the minimum amount allowed to be paid based on your ex-spouse’s salary. However, as everything else in life, things change. When this happens, you need to know how/when you can change the support in order to ensure the wellbeing of your child.
In the unlikely event that you and your ex-spouse get along well and are on agreeable terms when it comes to changing child support, you can draft a new agreement together and bring it to the court. This modification will generally be approved without issues unless of course the amount being requested does not meet the state’s minimum requirements or the judge does not believe that the amount will properly care for the child.
In more common circumstances, you and your ex-spouse will not be getting along and one of you will think that the amount of the child support is unfair. In this case, you will need to take your argument to court. In court, you will have to prove that circumstances have changed which is why you are requesting a different amount of money for child support.
To make things more complicated, the judge will have to determine if it is a permanent or temporary solution that you are in need of when it comes to changing your child support. A permanent change occurs when the needs of one parent changes, such as a job change with new income or illness/disability affect one parent’s life. Other factors that contribute include a new marriage of one parent that affects the income in the household or the needs of the child change due to a variety of factors, such as medical needs or just the fact that he is getting older and has more needs.
Temporary changes in child support are typically awarded in special or emergency situations. These situations include any type of medical emergency on the part of the child or the sudden inability of the parent with custody to maintain their income due to an accident or illness. If there is temporary hardship financially, temporary child support adjustments can be made in order to allow the parent with custody to get back on his feet.
