Tustin Child Support Lawyers

Child Support

Child support payments were designed to help divorcing spouses provide equally for the well-being of their children. They are generally paid by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent, but may be used in joint custody as well, particularly if the parents’ incomes are significantly different or the children spend most of their time with one parent. Payments usually last until the youngest child turns 18 and finishes high school, but may last longer for a child considered disabled by the courts. Non-custodial parents are generally required to ensure that their health insurance coverage, if they have any, covers their children as well.

The State of California sets guidelines to help determine how much child support should be paid. These guidelines use your whole income — wages, government benefits, investments and other types of income, regardless of whether it is taxed. They also allow you to subtract other financial obligations, such as taxes, health insurance premiums and the cost of raising other children. Once they’ve been set, child support payments can be modified to account for changes in custody, changes in either parent’s finances or changes in the children’s needs.

Wallin & Klarich represents custodial and non-custodial spouses in all areas of California child support law. We can help with:

• Ensuring that your children get the financial support they need.
• Ensuring that your income and financial obligations are correctly and completely represented in court.
• Modifying child support arrangements to accommodate new circumstances.
• Enforcing a court order for child support against a parent who has not made required payments.
• Representing parents who have gotten behind in child support (arrears) in actions by government child support services agencies.
• Legally establishing paternity, or lack of paternity, for child support and custody hearings.

Our Southern California family law attorneys have handled hundreds of divorces, child support and custody cases at Wallin & Klarich. We know parents in a child support case have a difficult job to do, balancing their personal and financial needs with the best interests of their children. We’re dedicated to helping smooth this transition for our clients and seeking the best possible outcome for your child support dispute. With sixteen attorneys in five Southern California counties, we can be there when you need us, wherever you are. For a consultation with an experienced family law attorney, call us at 1-888-749-7428 or fill out the online consultation form to the right.

At Wallin & Klarich, we approach every case with the belief that the person we’re representing could easily be one of our own family members. We’ve seen firsthand how stressful legal matters can be for our clients and their loved ones. We are committed to being available to our clients at all times — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you are involved in a family law matter in Southern California, you should call Wallin & Klarich today for a free evaluation of your case. Call 1-888-749-7428 or fill out our online consultation form to get in contact with a legal professional today. We will be there when you call.

Child Support Overview

Child support is the court ordered financial obligation a parent has to pay for the care of his or her child. It is typically sought after the parents of the child have split up, or after a mother has legally established who the father his through a paternity test. An order for child support may also be issued if one parent is not allowed to visit their child due to a domestic violence restraining order.

In order to get what is in the best interest of your child, a child support attorney can help you understand the process and represent you in family court.

Once a parent is ordered to pay child support they are typically obligated to pay until the child reaches 18 years of age and is no longer in high school. If a child turns 18 while still in high school, the parent will be ordered to pay child support until the child reaches age 19. There are exceptions however.

If a child files for emancipation or gets married prior to turning 18, they are legally considered to be an adult and the parent’s legal obligation to pay child support usually ends. The only exception being if the child is also legally disabled and cannon support themselves. In these instances, the parent still might have to provide child support.

A parent could also voluntarily agree to continue paying child support even after a child is considered an adult. This is outlined in Family Code 3587.

Orange County child support is set by a predetermined formula that looks at specific circumstances of the parent’s and child (Family Code 40559(a).) You can click here for a better understanding of the factors that determine child support. The amount determined by the formula is known as the guideline amount. In almost every case, the guideline amount is what the parent will be obligated to pay each month for child support.

Child support can be a contentious issue, as it typically is connected to other common issues litigated by a Southern California family lawyer like child custody and spousal support. While there are mediators and family law facilitators that will help guide you through the process for free, they do not represent your exclusive interest. In other words, there goal is to reach a resolution rather than achieve the best possible financial outcome for you.

In addition, family law facilitators are extremely limited in the legal advice they can give. At best, they can instruct you as to which forms you need to fill out and how to fill them out. They will not give you other legal advice, they will not file any motions for you, and they will not represent you at any hearings.

If you want your best interests represented in family court, it is crucial to hire an aggressive child support attorney.

Child Support: What Factors Determine Monthly Child Support?

There are several factors that the court looks at when determining a child support order. Your Southern California child support lawyer can explain each in more detail, but here is a brief overview.

The court looks to the following factors in determining child support:
• The parent’s current earnings, or potential earning capacity
• How much non-earning income each parent gets
• The number of children these parents have together, whether biological or adopted
• The strength of the relationship between each parent and the child
• Tax considerations
• The amount of other legal obligation owed by each parent, such as child support obligations from other relationships
• Health care costs
• Educational costs
• Any other special or unique circumstances. (Family Code 4055; see Family Code 4053.)

The above factors are essentially plugged into a formula to produce what is referred to as the guideline amount. This is almost always the amount that a parent of ordered to pay by the family courts.

Parents can agree to a non-guideline child support amount, but the court must approve any plan presented by the parents. And the court will always have the best interest of the child in mind (Family Code 4065 (a)). In order for the courts to approve a non-court ordered child support amount, they must determine that each parent knows their rights to child support, knows what the guideline amount is, that neither parent was pressured into an agreement and neither parent has received public assistance. And of course, the non-guideline amount would need to be in the best interest of the child.

Child Support: How Do I Change the Child Custody Support Amount?

It is possible for a child support order to be modified at a future point in time. The courts are sympathetic to the fact that circumstances change. Depending on those circumstances, the order can be increased or decreased (Family Code 3653). If a parent ordered to pay support should lose their job, it might be possible to get the order reduced. Of if that parent were to get a higher paying job, the other parent could ask the courts to increase their child support payments.

Also, if the child support agreement was below the guideline amount, a parent can ask the courts to change the support amount at any time, without there being any change of circumstances for either parent.

Changes in circumstances aren’t limited to just career changes. Other changes in circumstances include if the spouse who does not owe child support gets married and/or receives another avenue of income. There are a variety of circumstances that may be relevant in affecting the amount of child support, and the courts will examine them carefully before deciding whether to increase or decrease payments, or even eliminate them completely.

As your child support attorney can explain to you, just because you ask the court to modify your child support order does not mean that you will be happy with the result. You may go to court seeking an increase in child support payments and the court might review all new information and instead choose to decrease the order. That is why it is so important to consult with a Southern California family law attorney before making a modification request with the courts.

Child Support: How Do You Pay Child Support?

There are a couple of ways that child support can be paid, but the most common way is known as a wage assignment (Family Code 5230). What this means is that the amount owed in child support is deducted directly from the parent’s paycheck. The parent’s employer forwards the amount deducted to the California State Disbursement Unit, which then forwards the amount to the other parent. It is the responsibility of the employer to remove the child support amount in a wage assignment.

A child support payment is deducted before any other wage assignments like spousal support or any other judgments (Family Code 5238).

A parent can contest the amount of an assignment. In order to do so, they must fill out a Request for Hearing on Wage Assignment within 10 days of receiving notification of a wage assignment from their employer (Family Code 5234(b)). Once this form has been filed, the court will then hold a hearing regarding whether to reduce the amount of the wage assignment.

It is important to note that this is not the same as asking for a modification of the support order. This hearing is only if you feel the amount being withheld from your paycheck is inconsistent with the court order.

If a parent is self-employed or changes jobs frequently, there are other means of paying child support that your child support attorney can go over with you (Family Code 5208).

Child Support FAQs

1.  Can the court garnish my wages to pay child support if I’m self-employed?

No.  If you are self-employed, you are not subject to a wage assignment or wage garnishment.  Instead, the parties must agree to an alternative arrangement to ensure that the self-employed parent pays his or her child support obligations.
2.  If I am incarcerated, am I still obligated to pay child support?
Until you file something with the court, you are still obligated to pay child support.  Even if you do file with the court, any judgment reducing child support payments only applies to future child support payments, not past due child support payments (called “arrears”).  Thus, DO NOT ignore a notice for child support obligation, even if you think you will not owe child support because you are in prison.
3.   When does my child support obligation begin?
The court has discretion to determine when legal child support obligation begins.  It may begin on the date when the request for child support is filed, the date of the child support hearing, the date when you were served with notice of the hearing, or another date.

4.  What can the parent who is owed child support do to determine my actual income?
If there has already been a judgment ordering child support, the supported party can serve a document known as a Request for Production of an Income and Expense Declaration After Judgment.  If you do not respond to this document, or do not fill in the required information, the supported party can file a request for income information to your employer.
5.  Is it required that I pay for heath insurance for my child?
Yes, if health insurance is free or available at a reasonable price, you and your ex-spouse or partner must provide health insurance for your child as part of your child support obligation.
If you or someone you know has or may have a child support obligation issue, you will need an experienced Southern California child custody lawyer to help you through this complicated and difficult legal process.  At Wallin & Klarich, we have helped people with child support issues for over 30 years.  Call us today at (888) 749-7428. We will be there when you call.