A Child Support Attorney Explains Visitation and Custody in California

As a child support attorney, we regularly represent clients that want to make an adjustment to what they are paying in support.  In order to do this, you or your ex’s financial situation will have needed to change significantly, or an adjustment needs to be made to the custody and visitation schedule. 

In California, a parenting plan is established that determines where the child will be living and on what days they are with each parent.  In many cases, a child will primarily reside with one parent while seeing the other on weekends and during the evening once a week.  While this is a standard agreement, yours can be completely different, based on your needs and what is in the best interest of the child.  If you and your ex both live in the school district, it becomes much easier to arrange a unique shared parenting plan.  If, however, there is a distance between your homes or one lives in a different state, a judge will want to keep the child in the residence closest to their school during the school year. 

In most cases, even if one parent is awarded full custody the other will be granted visitation.  The amount of visitation can be adjusted up or down based on what is in the best interest of the child and the parents’ schedules. As a child support attorney, we understand that if you start spending more time with your children, the amount you pay in support should be reduced. This is often a good way to approach the adjustment.  We can file a Request for Order to Change or Modify a Previous Order.  This is a formal request to change how often you see your children and while doing so we will also request a modification to the support agreement. 

When the judge reviews our request, they will evaluate the current living situation for both parents along with what the child is used to.  As long as it doesn’t interfere with a child’s school schedule, a judge will typically agree to allow a child to spend as much time with both parents as is feasible.  They key is to demonstrate that the change would not disrupt the child’s life in any way or create a level of instability that they are not accustomed to.  

As a child support attorney, we always recommend going through the formalized process when making a major change to the parenting plan.  If you and your ex are helping each other out by switching days occasionally, that’s fine.  However, if you start to make a more permanent change such as taking them an additional day during the week, you should do it through the court system.  The reason being that if you are paying child support and start watching your child more often, the amount you pay in support will not change.  It will remain at a higher amount even though technically your ex is watching them less.  When you go through the process with the court, you can formalize the agreement so that they can’t go back to the old schedule without going back to court. 

Simultaneously, you can save money by getting your support order reduced. 

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

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. 

A Child Support Attorney Can Help You Negotiate Back Payments

As a child support attorney, we can help you to negotiate any back child support payments that you owe.  It is common for people to get into financial binds and be unable to meet their obligations.  The challenge is that once the court sets the amount you have to pay, it can’t be simply waived or postponed like another debt.  If you get too far behind, the other party can take you to court, and you can even end up in jail.

If you work with a lawyer, this can typically be prevented since we can negotiate on your behalf with the other party and represent you in court before a judge.  The key is to make a case for why you are unable to meet your obligations and what you will be able to do going forward.  If you make enough money, simply not paying isn’t a good argument.  You must demonstrate that you need more of the money you make to pay for your basic living expenses or to support other children that you have.  The goal of the court is to ensure that your children are provided for, not to make you homeless. Keeping this in mind, hiring an attorney and showing up to court is the first step.

People will typically get into legal trouble by not responding to requests for child support, not making any payments, and not showing up for court hearings.  If you fail to appear in court, a judge can issue a warrant for your arrest, and many people have spent time in jail as a result.  If, however, you make an effort to meet your obligations but simply cannot pay the full amount, it becomes much easier to plead your case before a judge.  As a child support attorney, we fight for our clients and seek adjustments to what is owed on a regular basis.

Another reason people tend to need help is if they didn’t know that they had any support obligations in the first place.  For example, if you didn’t know that you had a child, how could you have been paying child support?  Logic would say that you don’t owe anything, but the legal system doesn’t work this way.  Even if you are not aware of a child, the mother could come back at a later date and seek current and back child support.  This can create a difficult situation since most people don’t have enough savings to take care of the obligation.  The court will often garnish wages, as a result, which can hurt your ability to pay for housing, food, etc. In order to prevent this scenario, we recommend hiring a child support attorney that can work with the court to create a plan for caring for the child going forward without crippling you financially today.  The key is to take action right away so that the situation won’t escalate.  To learn how we can help, call to schedule a consultation.