Understanding Child Support in Texas

Can your child support payments be changed?

In today's recessionary times, many people have been laid off, losing their jobs to downsizing, businesses folding and other adverse economic factors. If you are a divorced parent with children for whom you must provide support, the slumping economy may have caused you an increasing difficulty in providing that support. No one wants their children to suffer from bad economic conditions. The reality exists, however, that when a parent loses a job or otherwise finds himself in financial hardship, an adjustment in child support payments may be necessary.

You should be aware that merely phoning your ex-spouse with the bad news that you can't make the payments and negotiating some other arrangement is not the answer. Even if you are and your ex-spouse are on amicable terms, an informal agreement between the two of you does not legally change the amount you owe as ordered by the courts in your divorce settlement. In order to officially modify your child support agreement, you must obtain a new court order.

How to Modify Your Child Support Payments in Texas

According to the Texas Attorney General's office, child support orders can be modified through a court hearing or through the CSRP, the Child Support Review Process. The faster route is through the CSRP and it will proceed more rapidly if you and your ex-spouse can agree on the new order. There are two circumstances which will allow you to make a change in child support. The first is that it has been three or more years since the order was made or last modified and the monthly amount of the support ordered differs by 20% or $100 from the amount that would be awarded (per Texas child support guidelines).

The second circumstance allowing a child support change is a "material and substantial change in circumstances" since the last order was established. This means that your income has either increased or decreased, you have become legally responsible for other children, or your child's living arrangements or medical insurance coverage have changed.

If you have an issue with child support as a custodial or noncustodial parent in the Texas counties of Montgomery or Harris, you should consult with experienced Woodlands family law attorney Eric L. Fredrickson who has been assisting clients with all types of family law matters for more than 14 years. You will get the answers you need followed by the legal action necessary to modify child support payments or handle any other modification matter as well.

Contact a Woodlands child support lawyer at the Law Offices of Eric L. Fredrickson, PC today for legal assistance with child support or other family law matters.