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Modification of Child Support in Texas
Child Support Modification In Texas
Most divorce lawyers in Texas can help you change the amount of child support you have to pay every month.
Child Support Review Questionnaire
Attorneys often refer to this as child support modification. Normally, it is a court that gives child support orders that determine the child support payment amount a non-custodial parent should pay in Texas. In order to change the amount, you have to go back to court. People often seek child support modification because of a change in employment status, custody status, and more.
Completing Child Support Modification
Child Support Over Payment
You can request child support modification by completing a Request for Review form and a Child Support Review Questionnaire. After you fill these forms, you should give them to the child support office that handles your case. You may also take the case to court to have the child support modification. You as the parents of the child need to go to court for modification or seek modification through the Child Support Division of the Texas Attorney General.
The latter is a quicker way to get support modification. However, the modification will only take place if it has been at least 3 years since the child support order was issued. There must also be a material and substantial change in circumstances that has happened in the parent’s life. The amount requested must be at least 20% or $100 different from the original amount ordered. However, if the custodial parent lives in another state and the first child support order was not given in Texas, then Texas courts cannot handle the child support modification.
Material And Substantial Change
The material and substantial change simply means changes that make it difficult for you to pay for child support. Other reasons for child support modification include:
- When a child’s living arrangement changes
- Sometimes when more children come into the picture maybe because of remarriage, a non-custodial parent seeks for child support modification
- Losing a job or earning less income can also force you to seek support modification
- You are no longer able to carry medical insurance for your children
- Paying parent has a large increase in income
- When a child grows older and it becomes more expensive to look after the child
- When the parent that has custody inherits a lot of money or gets a large raise
- When a paying parent is sentenced to prison or jail
- When a parent becomes disabled
Do not change the amount you pay through an oral agreement with the parent that has custody. Oral agreements are often vague and people’s memories of such agreements may not be the same. A better way to do this is to have the agreement in writing and then file a motion for modification with the court. This makes your agreement official, but you still need to consult with a lawyer if you and the parent with custody agree to modify child support. Your lawyer will review the details of the written argument and help you avoid any pitfalls.
Texas Child Support Attorneys
- Hembree Bell Law Firm
- Attorney Hannah Bell