Child Support: The Do’s and Don’ts You Should Know

In any case, if you are a parent who is actually required legally either to provide for or receive child support, then you have no choice but to accept this. Fact is, child support is one of those things that can feel overwhelming on one side of the equation and like a lifeline on the other.

But regardless of your point of view, the laws and policies regarding child support are in place for a purpose, and it’s really important that you’re aware of them.

The purpose of child support is to provide financial support for your child’s basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, and education. If you do things the right way, you can successfully avoid a lot of stress that really means much more when such questions are avoided and when your child gets to be properly taken care of.

The Do’s

While doing child support, the following are some of the do’s that exist:

Do keep payment records

Obviously, each time you pay for the child support money, ensure you make a record of it. And no, no sweet notepad on a sticky note. You must have records in official, traceable forms, like bank statements, receipts, or anything showing proof of payment.

Just think of all the times you will wish you had kept proof that you made the payment should a dispute arise as to whether or not you did make the payments. It is your word against theirs, and if you cannot bring proof, you may be in significant trouble.

Let the Court Know When Your Financial Situations Change

Life happens. You might lose your job, get a promotion, face medical bills, or experience any number of situations that changed your financial standing. When a change in your financial situation has substantially affected your current level of income for better or worse, you need to inform the court.

Child support is not a fixed amount. It can be altered only under the precondition that you officially ask for it to be changed. If you are earning fewer wages than when you had your support set, or you have financial problems, you cannot stop nor lower your support on your own. You need to go through the legal system to get the support amount adjusted.

Do Make Partial Payments If Full Payment is Not Possible

You think, “Well, if I can’t pay the whole thing, I’ll just skip this month and catch up later.” That’s a huge mistake.

Even if you cannot pay all at one time, still make partial payments. This indicates that you’re actually trying to do the best you can. And courts take this into consideration when you at least do your best to meet your obligations. Know what? it’s much better to be seen as someone who’s doing his best rather than someone who’s not paying at all.

The Don’ts

Here are the don’ts of child support:

Don’t quit a job to reduce support payments

If you are thinking about quitting your job or taking on a low-paying gig just to reduce your child support payments, do not do it. Courts are pretty smart and can smell when you’re trying to game the system; trust me, it is not going to be good for you.

You see, child support is calculated as a function of your potential, not your earnings. So if you reduce your income deliberately so you pay less in child support payments, the court can still come after you for that higher amount based on what you might be earning.

And honestly, leaving a job or scaling back so that you don’t have to pay child support is both a legal gamble and one that’s unfair to your child. They rely on that support, and in shirking that responsibility, it is your child who ultimately pays the price.

Don’t withhold visitation for non-payment

Child support and visitation are two issues that are entirely different from each other in the legal arena. It doesn’t mean you can withhold visitation solely because the other parent isn’t paying up. In most cases, this leads to trouble with the law under the grounds of violating the custody arrangement.

It’s also a question of the right of access to both parents on the part of the child and not a way to torture the non-paying parent. Your child shouldn’t suffer in consequence of financial quarrels.

If the other party doesn’t pay up, avenues are open to take them to court for this, but cut-off visitation is not one of those avenues.

Don’t Ask for Joint Custody For the Wrong Reasons

Joint custody could seem so appealing, right? I mean because maybe it’s lesser child support, right? But this is the thing: if you’re not really ready to accept the responsibility of joint custody, then don’t ask for it.

The courts take custody arrangements very, very seriously. If you come into court asking for joint custody and then you don’t follow through. If you don’t show up for visitation or don’t take an active role in the child’s life, it’s going to reflect poorly on you. More importantly than that, though, is it’s going to hurt your relationship with your child.

Do it for the right reasons if that is what you want: to have joint custody. So, do you want more time with your child? Are you prepared and ready to take on the day-to-day stuff? If the answer is yes, then go for it. But if you are doing it solely for the purpose of reducing your child support payments, I would think twice because you don’t want to affect your child’s life if you aren’t fully committed to do so.