Child support is not a cut and dry aspect of Family Law. Much like most of the legalities related to family law cases, child support is tailored primarily to the financial circumstances of the parties, which can be unclear and complex.
Here’s what a parent needs to know before heading to a hearing for child support.
1. Discretionary Expenses Will Not Be Considered
Most state guidelines are straightforward in their approach and will look at the parents’ gross incomes to calculate support. The court has discretion to consider health insurance and day care expenses when calculating support.
Discretionary expenses like credit card bills or mortgage expenses are not considered, even if they relate to expenses for the children.
2. Child Support Does Not Last a Lifetime
Child support generally ends around the time a child finishes high school or turns 18, but this might not be the case for every state. In Nevada, child support continues until the child graduates from high school or turns 19, whichever occurs first.
A parent can waive or accept reduced child support payments through negotiation so long as the court order states the basis for the downward deviation from the statutory amount.
3. The Law Does Not Take Kindly to Past Due Child Support
Child support is an obligation that even jobless parents must fulfill, so a judge will see missed payments as breaking the law. A court might take many courses of action, such as wage garnishment, reducing credit score, auditing tax returns, penalizing outstanding payments, removing unemployment benefits, suspending permits, and—in extreme cases—ordering the nonpayer to be jailed.
Find a Family Law Attorney in Reno
If your questions are state-specific, we suggest hiring our child support service because, in this case, getting the right answers is tantamount to obeying the law.
We have the best family lawyers in all of Reno, practicing every aspect from divorce to child custody to surrogacy.
Call us at (775) 823-0049, or leave us an email to start child support the right way.
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