Midland Child Support Lawyer

Fighting for You and Your Family

In the wake of a divorce, one of the partners will typically be responsible for paying child support to the parent responsible for taking care of their minor children. Child support can quickly become an acrimonious issue, especially if one partner refuses to regularly make payments or if someone feels they are being asked to pay too much.

Every parent wants to do right by their children, but it can often be difficult to understand what your responsibilities are under the law when it comes to child support. Our Midland child support lawyer at The Stuart Firm is prepared to help you resolve these types of delicate conflicts. We have a full understanding of Texas child support laws and will aggressively work to protect your rights in any child support negotiation.

Get the help you need with child support by calling (432) 284-4411 or contacting us online. We offer consultations.

Determining Child Support Obligations

A Texas court can in theory rule that either parent in a divorce must pay child support. In many cases, however, the “noncustodial parent” is generally the person responsible for making child support payments to the “custodial parent,” or the person who is primarily taking care of the couple’s minor children.

Texas courts use state guidelines to determine the amount of child support that must be paid. This amount is calculated based on the obligor parent’s net income, which takes into account gross wages, tax liabilities, health insurance costs, and other factors.

The exact figure used to determine the child support payment is dependent on the number of minor children involved. A single child will warrant 20% of the obligor parent’s net income, while two children will warrant 25%.

If the obligor parent makes more than $7,500 a month, the divorce court has the discretion to mandate child support payments above these guidelines. In these situations, the court will evaluate the needs of the child and the income levels of both parents. In many cases, a court might require higher levels of child support to avoid disrupting a child’s quality of life.

Our Midland child support attorney can help you understand what your child support obligation might look like if you anticipate being the obligor parent. If you are in a high-income situation where you may be expected to pay more, we can advocate on your behalf and negotiate with the court.

Challenging an Initial Child Support Amount in Texas

Sometimes, the child support amount decided by a court may be unfair. If you are the obligor payment, you may feel the amount is too high. If you are the custodial parent, you might also worry the awarded amount is insufficient.

We can help you request that a court review its child support amount before it issues a decision. In these situations, a court will hear arguments from both sides and perform a thorough review of the financial situations of both parents and the cited mitigating factors before deciding on how to proceed.

When considering a proposed change to an initial child support amount, Texas judges will typically consider:

• The age and needs of the child
• The custodial parent’s ability to raise and support the child
• The custodial parent’s financial resources and assets outside child support
• Alimony payments and other marital support
• Educational and healthcare expenses of the child
• Any other contributing or extenuating factors

Changing a Child Support Amount in Texas

Once a child support amount has been decided by a Texas court, the obligor parent must regularly make payments to the custodial parent on a monthly basis. Parents are able to negotiate a payment higher than the minimum awarded amount if they so choose, but they cannot lawfully decide to allow payments lower than what the court decided, even if the decision to do so is mutual.

Because child support guidelines are rooted in a parent’s net income, changing circumstances can result in a need to adjust the mandated level of child support. Losing a job or any other material change in a parent’s situation might warrant a review of and modification to child support. In addition to changes in come, this can include changes in custody or relocations of one or both parents.

This goes both ways: Should the obligor parent lose a job, they will have less income and be less able to make payments at the previous amount. Conversely, should the obligor get a promotion with a substantial raise, they can likely afford to pay more and better support the child.

Our team can help you seek changes to child support. We are familiar with how the Texas Attorney General Office reviews and decides these types of cases and can work to put you in the best possible position to achieve a favorable result.

How Can A Child Support Attorney In Midland Help?

If you need help setting up child support or are having trouble with child support that is already set up, our attorneys can help. If your spouse not paying his or her child support? Do you want to modify child support? Whatever the case, our child support attorneys in Midland, TX can help.

Ways that a child support attorney can help you include the following:

• Provide you with informative legal information so that you are well aware of your and your children's rights.
• Emotionally support you and your family during a difficult time.
• Help you set up or modify child support effectively, and handle all paperwork involved.
• Answer questions you may have regarding child support and provide you with clarity on the matter.
• Negotiate on your behalf for the child support your children truly deserve.
• Represent you if your case gets taken to court.

Contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation with one of our experienced child support attorneys in Midland, Texas.

Committed to Delivering Results

We understand how pivotal child support is to serving the needs of your children. We also understand that sometimes the state’s guidelines can produce unfair award amounts that place you under an unreasonable financial burden. We are capable of handling cases of any size or complexity, including situations of changed material circumstances or scenarios where multiple income streams can make calculating a fair child support amount difficult. No matter the problem you are experiencing, our Midland child support lawyer is prepared to do everything possible to deliver you the results that you need and deserve.

Explore how we can help resolve child support issues by contacting us online or calling (432) 284-4411.