How to Avoid Paying Child Support
- Posted on: Oct 28 2022
When a child is below the age of 18, they are entitled to child support from a parent that no longer lives with them. The payments that are made will be court mandated following a child support hearing.
However, many situations exist where the child support may end and allow the other parent to avoid making the payments. Before we do this, we need to understand the reasons leading up to the payments stopping.
Reasons for Child Support To Stop
Many reasons exist for child support to stop. Below are a few of the well-known reasons.
- The receiving parent has a change in financial status. This can include getting a raise at work or other financial change. Regardless, there will need to be a change made in the support order in order for the payments to be adjusted or terminated.
- The paying parents’ financial status has changed for the worse. The parent receiving the child support may want to have the payments terminated until the parent is able to get back on their feet financially. The parent will need to petition the court to explain their decision to have payments temporarily suspended.
- Both parents decide to reconcile. When reconciliation takes place, the need for child support would be obsolete. The parent receiving the payments would need to make a petition to the court to have the payments dismissed and the reasons why.
Stopping Child Support Payments
When you have a good reason to have child support payments stopped, and the desire to stop payments exist, then you will need to petition the court. You will be able to obtain the proper forms from the court clerk and have them filed.
Once filed, the court will possibly try to convince you to continue having the payments. This will only be because it is in the best interest of the child to continue receiving child support for as long as your child is a minor. You need to be ready to make your case as to why the payments should be stopped.
Besides going through the court to have payments stopped, you can easily return the money to the other parent when a hardship takes place.
Conclusion
When child support is being paid or if they are no longer responsible, then there should be accurate record maintenance for as long as the payments are obtained. When records are maintained and receipts are kept, then there will be no reason to owe child support. This is also true for moments where a financial status has changed. If you are going through a financial hardship and you need to have your child support stopped, then give us a call today.
Posted in: Family Law, Uncategorized
