Friday, October 3, 2014

Speak With a Child Support Attorney if You Have Been Laid Off

Child Support Attorney
If you have lost your job, a child support attorney can help you to negotiate changes to your custody arrangements or child support.  When couples get divorced a judge makes a determination about where the kids will live, visitation schedules, and child support payments.  The goal is to create a plan that can last for as long as possible.  It is unreasonable, however, to assume that what is set when a child is five will still work when they are fifteen.  Life changes and when it does, adjustments need to be made. 

If you were working full time when the judge made their decision, this would have played a large role in determining the custody schedule and how much money you would either pay or receive on a monthly basis.  Losing that job could change everything.  For example, if both parents are working and one is laid off, that parent may want to provide child care now instead of paying for daycare.  This could impact the amount of days each parent has with the child since it is better for a child to be with a parent than in daycare. 

When the days that a child is with each parent are adjusted, the financial considerations must also be adjusted.  This means that if you gain days as a result of losing your job, the amount of money you would pay in child support would go down or the amount you receive could go up.  Simultaneously, there needs to be an adjustment made for how much money is exchanged because your income would have gone down.  As a child support attorney, we can help to make this happen by petitioning the court. 

As a divorced couple, neither one of you can make a change without the consent of the other or without going to court.  In many cases, ex-spouses do not agree so being able to negotiate is not a possibility.  In this case, we can try and mediate on your behalf.  This is a non-binding way to negotiate and take the emotion out of it at the same time.  Since they or their attorney, would be speaking with us the conversations should be more cordial and productive.  The goal of mediation is to attempt to settle outside of court where both sides have more control, and there is less cost involved. 

If they don't agree to any changes, we can schedule a court date and represent you before the judge.  We will build a case for how your job situation changing has impacted your schedule and your financial situation. The other side will likely argue against changing anything or reducing child support so it is important to provide us with as much detail as possible so that we can present a solid case that the judge will have a hard time disagreeing with.  

Remember, if your situation has changed you have the right to ask for your custody situation to change, as well.  To get help, call a child support attorney today.