Child Support
Determining the appropriate levels of child and spousal support is one of the most complex areas of divorce. And unless you and your spouse are both fortunate enough to be highly paid professionals, support will most likely also be one of the most important issues. In most divorces the levels of support that will be paid for years to come are influenced by orders established early in the divorce process. Thats why if you have children or gave up your career to take care of the family, you should consult an experienced child and spousal support attorney as soon as you possibly can.
Attorneys at Womens Divorce Center will explain the governmental guidelines applied in support proceedings, advise you on the other factors considered in support determination and will lead you through the process of obtaining the initial child and spousal support orders as well as modifying them when the circumstances change.
Child support is the amount of money ordered to pay by one or both parents every month to help pay for the childrens living expenses. California has a mandatory statewide formula (called a guideline), which is applied to all but a few child support cases for figuring out how much child support should be paid. The guideline calculation depends on:
The parents earned and unearned income;
How many children these parents have together;
How much time each parent spends with their children;
Other factors, such as tax filing status, mandatory union dues and retirement contributions, support of children from other relationships, shared daycare and medical expenses, and others.
The guideline amount is presumed to be correct and the Court will order something different only in very limited situations.
In addition to guideline amount, the child support order may require the parents to share
The costs for child care to allow the parent to work or to get training or schooling to get skills necessary for employment;
Reasonable health-care expenses;
Visitation costs incurred traveling from one parent to another;
Childrens educational needs; and
Other special needs.
Child support attorneys at Womens Divorce Center can calculate the projected amount of child support in your case using the same software that is used by the courts and advise you on maximizing your benefit by taking into account the factors considered by the judge making the support order.
California child support orders usually continue until the child support is modified or terminated. Guideline child support can be changed upward or downward anytime there is a significant change in circumstances affecting either of the parents income or time spent with the child.
It is important to note that whenever you seek to modify a standing child support order, you should file a motion at the earliest possible time since the modification cannot take effect earlier than the motion filing date.
Womens Divorce Center attorneys are experienced in seeking changes of child support orders and after reviewing your current order we can help you to determine if you have valid grounds for modification. Also, with the help of the same software programs used by the family law judges we can estimate whether the change of circumstances will cause your child support payments to go up or down.
Please contact Womens Divorce Center at (619) 630 4765 or (858) 461 9237 today and let us know how we could assist with your child support issues.’