How to Change Child Support Orders - A Divorce Lawyer's Insight

If you need to update your child support order, the court or the other parent won’t change it for you. You have to file a motion for modification. An experienced child support lawyer on your side often means ensuring a fair and reasonable child support amount. Regardless of what you believe is fair, the courts will strictly enforce the amount you owe.

It is a normal fact of life that circumstances may change over time making an existing child support order unfair. People lose or change jobs, which can affect their incomes. A non-custodial parent may increase or decrease the amount he or she is seeing the children. The child’s education costs may increase or decrease. Or the cost of child care to enable the custodial parent to work or attend school my increase or decrease. All of these possible scenarios, if proven, may impact the amount of guideline child support one of the parents is obligated to pay.

Even if these circumstances exist, they will not automatically translate into a modification of your existing child support orders. You must still file the appropriate order to show cause or motion to modify the court’s order to bring these changes to the court’s attention. In other words, one party cannot unilaterally change the terms of an existing child support order. You must tell the court about this by properly filing and serving an OSC or motion. If you don't do that, the courts might find that you violated the order. They may even find you in contempt of the court's existing child support orders.

If the court grants the modification request, it may make the modification retroactive to the date you serve your motion on the opposing party.

If you are dissatisfied with the court’s rulings on your motion to modify, you may have a couple of options. The first, which is rarely granted, would be to consider a motion to reconsider. Such a motion is granted only under limited circumstances, e.g., an intervening change of law or the court completely overlooked critical evidence that was presented at the hearing. The other option is to consider filing a writ or an appeal from the trial court’s decision. Keep in mind, however, that the court of appeals will not be conducting a second trial on your case. Instead, the appellate court will give deference to the trial court’s decision unless you can show either that the trial court’s decision was not based on substantial evidence or, where applicable, the trial court’s decision was based on an error of law.

Contact our experienced child support lawyers using the form on the left to determine the best way to approach your child support case.

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