The judge will determine the amount of child support you get depending on the interpretation of financial data presented in court. Besides arming yourself with experienced child support lawyers, there are a number of other things you can do to ensure you get what you want. These things include:
File early
You might be wondering how filing your case early will give you what you want, but it comes in handy. Most states allow retroactive child support based on missed payments.
In most cases, you don’t receive the payments if the child support case was made late. So to get the amount of child support you want from your ex-spouse, you have to move with haste and file the case as early as possible.
Be honest about your financial situation.
As mentioned above, the judge will decide about your child support payments based on your financial situation (as the custodial parent) and the income of the non-custodial parent.
Lying in court is synonymous with shooting yourself in the foot, especially when the judge finds out about it.
To increase the chances of getting the amount you are entitled to, be honest about your financial situation.
Thankfully, there are plenty of documents you can use to prove your financial situation. These include:
- Pay stubs
- Tax returns
- Expenses and income from your business
- Expenses associated with caring for your child
- Cost of health insurance
- Medical expenses for a child suffering from disabilities
It can be overwhelming putting together all the documents, so it’s wise that you work closely with your attorney to help you compile all the information.
Be cooperative
The court’s purpose is to ensure that the child gets what they deserve and are catered for. One critical thing that the court pays attention to is the relationship between parents.
It might be difficult to cooperate with the parent of your child, especially if you had to bring them to court to get them to help support the child, but the court will want to ensure that the child is safe in the hands of either parent.
You should promise the court that you are willing to work with your ex-spouse and provide the child with a healthy environment.
Stick to the topic
It’s not unusual for disgruntled parents to decide to lay out all their problems during a child support case. For example, if they feel that the non-custodial parent is spending too much time with the child, they will bring it up in court at this time.
This is not the right thing to do. In fact, you should never do it as it often causes a distraction, and you don’t get what you are asking for.
Regardless of the number of issues you have with your ex-spouse, don’t bring them to court. Instead, stick to what has got you there—child support.
If the other parent brings up requests and grievances, work with your attorney and remind the judge that you are mainly there to ensure that the child gets what they deserve so they can live a happy and comfortable life.
Don’t try to enforce the payments.
It’s one thing for the court to enact a child support order and the other parent to honor it. If your ex has refused to honor the payments, don’t try to enforce them. Instead, go back to court with your family lawyers Fairfax VA and ask the court to enforce the payments.
The court can ask for automatic deductions from the person’s paycheck, suspend the driver’s license or even ask for jail time.
Avoid enforcing the child support order as you will most likely create more animosity between you and the other parent, and you don’t want this, do you?
