Do you have an ongoing child support obligation? Here are a few tips you should know:

You can decrease your monthly obligation

You should know that the court’s child support amount assigned to you isn’t set in stone—you can decrease it. If your income has reduced and you are struggling to pay the child support, you can work with your child support lawyers and present the issue in court and have the amount reduced.

You should note that for the court to reduce the amount you have to pay every month, you need to have proof. This can be a balance sheet showing losses in business, a termination letter, or any other relevant document.

So, whenever your life changes and you can’t continue paying the amount ordered by the court, don’t stress yourself over it—go to court and have the amount reduced.

Your obligation can increase.

The same way the amount dictated by the court can be decreased is the same way it can be increased. This will happen when your EX has evidence of your better financial situation, and they decide to take advantage of it.

When your ex has proof that you have been promoted at work or your business is doing better than when the court ordered you to pay child support, they can go to court and ask the court to revise the amount upwards.

Can you prevent this from happening? Maybe you can by being secretive about your work and business. You can also fight the case by showing that you have more responsibilities. For example, you can say that you got a new family. While you might have more money, you have more responsibilities, so you don’t have much left and can’t pay more child support.

Parenting time has an impact on the child support amount

In many jurisdictions, the amount of time you spend with your child dramatically affects the amount of child support you must pay. This means that the more time you spend with the child, the less you pay for child support.

So, to reduce the amount of child support you pay, strive to increase the amount of time you spend with the child as much as possible. This calls for you to increase the visitations, provide housing, food, clothing, and other necessities.

You can be in trouble for failing to pay child support

You can fail to pay child support and get away with it, right? Well, wrong. The state has plenty of ways to ensure that child support payors meet their obligation. It does this by invoking criminal penalties, which means that you will be committing a criminal offense when you fail to pay child support.

Some penalties you face when you fail to meet your obligation include suspension of your driving license, cancellation of your passport, suspension of your fishing license, interception of your winnings, and even dismissal from service.

So, don’t think you can get away with making the payments. Once the court has ordered you to make the payments, you must do it.

If you have a problem with the amount, work with your family lawyers Fairfax VA and file for a reduction, but don’t fail to make the payments.

Parting shot

These are some of the things you should know about child support. To avoid being on the wrong side of the law, always pay the child support amount on time.

Even when the court sets out the amount you should pay, remember that the amount isn’t set in stone—you can always change it. All you need to do is to work with your attorney and make the necessary adjustments.