Hire a Skilled Child Support Lawyer in Texas
Meeting Your Children’s Financial Needs
One of the most important issues family law attorneys deal with is facilitating agreements between divorcing spouses regarding their financial responsibilities, including child support. Determining how a child will be financially supported is an important aspect of any divorce that involves a minor. Within the Texas Family Code, there is a calculation that’s used to determine child support payment amounts. However, the amount calculated is unrealistic in many cases.
At Goranson Bain Ausley, our Texas child support lawyers realize that every family is different and has its own set of financial needs. Our Dallas, Fort Worth, Granbury, Plano, Midland, and Austin child support lawyers will work alongside you to develop the right strategy for your child’s unique needs. Whether it’s better to follow traditional guidelines or create an approach specifically for your family, you can trust a child support lawyer in Texas from our firm to do whatever it takes to secure you the outcome you and your children deserve.
Texas Child Support Guidelines
Child support is money paid to support a child, including providing the child with food, clothing, shelter, medical care, dental care, and education. The goal of child support is to ensure that the child is receiving the financial support necessary to meet their needs of the child. Texas law requires both legal parents to financially support their children’s necessary expenses even after a divorce.
Every child support attorney in Texas knows that there are few family law issues more emotionally charged than the question of how much money the non-custodial parent should pay for the support of their child. At Goranson Bain Ausley, our Texas child support attorneys are well-versed in state laws regarding child support and will advocate tirelessly for the outcome that is in the best interests of you and your child.
While all parties involved can usually agree that it’s necessary and responsible to provide child support, disputes often arise concerning the payment amount. Disputes such as these are especially common for spouses with high incomes or significant estates. A Texas child support lawyer from Goranson Bain Ausley can help guide you through these high-conflict situations with sound and strategic advice.
Child Support Options
Temporary Child Support
Temporary child support orders, issued to provide for and protect children before a divorce is finalized, have multiple benefits.
A temporary child support order can reduce the amount of stress children experience during a divorce by allowing them to continue with their normal activities. It can also help all parties verify if the agreed amount of support is adequate for their children to maintain their standard of living. A temporary child support agreement that’s acceptable to all parties may be formalized in the final divorce decree. If the temporary agreement isn’t acceptable to all parties, it may be amended before finalization.
Permanent Child Support
Permanent child support refers to the order that locks in the terms of the child support payments. However, the word “permanent” can be misleading, as these orders can be changed over time. If a party believes there has been a substantial change in circumstances and a different child support amount would be in the best interest of the child, they can request a modification of the previous child support order.
Child Support FAQs
How Does The Texas Family Code Determine Child Support?
Under Texas Family Code guidelines, child support:
- Is not required of stepparents and partners who aren’t legal parents, regardless of how long they’ve been part of a child’s life
- Is typically calculated based on the paying parent’s net resources
- Can be different than the standardized calculation if the court believes that it is in the best interest of the child
- Includes coverage for medical and dental care
- May apply even if parents are sharing equal possession time
- Applies even if the paying parent does not exercise possession of their child
- Remains in force until a child turns 18 or graduates from high school. In the case of a special needs or otherwise dependent child, child support obligations continue until amended by the court
- Is not altered by the remarriage of either parent
- Can only be changed by court order
Is it Possible to Deviate from Texas Child Support Guidelines?
Yes. The best interest of the child will always be the court’s main point of consideration when calculating a child support payment. To evaluate what amount would be best for the child, the court will examine all relevant factors and evidence, such as:
- Debts assumed by a parent
- Parents’ financial situations and their ability to pay
- Child care expenses incident to a job
- Negative or positive cash flow that affects either parent’s liquidity
- Special educational, health, or other issues that affect a child or a parent
- If a parent has physical custody or conservatorship of a different child
- Health insurance premiums, deductibles, and uninsured medical expenses
- Housing, motor vehicle, and other benefits supplied to a parent by a third party
- Child’s college education and post-secondary school expenses
- Travel expenses associated with possession of and access to the child
- Spousal support paid or received by a parent
- Other deductions from the income of a parent
- If a parent is intentionally under- or unemployed
- How much time the children spend in each parent’s care
- Child’s age and needs
- Any other reason consistent with the best interest of the child, taking into account the circumstances of the parents
Determining Child Support Payments
Child support determinations are deeply intertwined with child custody and visitation arrangements. Generally speaking, non-custodial parents, or obligors, make monthly child support payments to the custodial parent. Custodial parents are not usually the subjects of a child support court order because the court assumes they’re already making substantial contributions to their child’s care by providing food, clothing, shelter, and education.
In Texas, there is no minimum requirement for child support and child support orders are determined by a judge. It’s possible for parents to determine their own child support arrangements—but to have legal efficacy, these agreements must still prove to the court that they are in the best interest of the child and be formalized in an order approved by a judge.
Because all child support determinations must be court-approved, it’s extremely important to have a knowledgeable child support attorney involved in the creation of an agreement, even if a divorce is amicable.
Enforcement of Child Support Orders
Every child deserves to receive the support they need, whether it be emotional or financial. If a parent isn’t adhering to their child support order, that negatively impacts their child’s life. Luckily, steps can be taken to resolve the issue.
Several state and federal agencies handle child support enforcement. In Texas, the Office of the Attorney General and family courts partner with the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement to locate and notify non-compliant parents of any court orders and the amounts of child support payments owed to the custodial parent.
Texas also has a diversion program called the Child Support Probation Unit. This unit collaborates with the Office of the Attorney General and the IV-D child support court associate judges to provide an incarceration alternative for non-custodial parents who have been held in contempt for non-payment of child support. County probation divisions monitor money due to custodial parents, attempt to remove barriers to child support payment by providing probationers with access to community resources, and can reduce jail stays for certain incarcerated parents by placing them in structured, court-monitored support programs instead of prison or jail.
Using a private attorney or law firm can help speed up the enforcement process and ensure that an active child support case doesn’t get lost in a federal or state backlog.
Modifying Child Support Orders
As your life changes over time, the terms of your child support order may need to be modified. Specific circumstances must exist to do this, and it’s important that any modification be formalized through a new court order and not through an informal agreement. Informal agreements between parents are not enforceable and can result in legal difficulties for both parents.
Child support orders can be modified by either parent if the existing order has been active for more than three years or the monthly support amount would change by either 20% or $100. This often occurs when the obligor experiences a significant change in circumstances, such as the non-custodial parent’s income significantly increasing or decreasing, the non-custodial parent becoming legally responsible for more children, medical insurance for the dependent child/children changing, custodial arrangements being altered, a major medical issue arising, or the non-custodial parent being incarcerated.
It’s important to note that incarceration itself will not alter a child support order. The obligor must apply for a modification to the order to ensure that they are not held responsible for back payments.
Hire Our Experienced Texas Child Support Attorneys
Goranson Bain Ausley’s Dallas, Fort Worth, Granbury, Plano, Midland, and Austin child support lawyers focus on identifying the financial needs of the child and then advocating for their best interest and yours, both in and out of the courtroom. Our attorneys can help you to skillfully navigate the process of agreeing on child support as well as all of the other issues that can arise during a divorce. Schedule a consultation with one of our experienced family law attorneys today.
Awards & Credentials
- Thomas P. Goranson 1997
- Thomas L. Ausley 1997
- Diana S. Friedman 1998
- Thomas A. Greenwald 2003
- Kathryn J. Murphy 2004
- Eric Robertson 2007
- Kelly Ausley-Flores 2009
- Aimee Pingenot Key 2015
- Kristen A. Algert 2017
- P. Lindley Bain 2020
- Ryan R. Bauerle 2022
- Lindsey Obenhaus 2023
- Hayley Collins Blair 2021 2018
- Lindsey Obenhaus 2024 2023 2022 2021
- Katie Flowers Samler 2020 2019 2018
- Kathryn J. Murphy 2024 2023 2020 2019 2018 2017 2010 2009 2008
- Aimee Pingenot Key 2024 2020 2019 2017
- Thomas A. Greenwald 2022 2018 2012 2011 2009 2008
- Paula Larsen 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2008
- Diana S. Friedman 2017 2016 2015 2013
- Angeline Lindley Bain 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2009 2008
- Thomas P. Goranson 2011 2009 2008
- Beth E. Maultsby 2010
- Thomas L. Ausley 1980
- Thomas P. Goranson 1980
- Gary L. Nickelson 1984
- Paula Larsen 1985
- Angeline Lindley Bain 1993
- Kathryn J. Murphy 1995
- Diana S. Friedman 1996
- Kristen A. Algert 1997
- Thomas A. Greenwald 1997
- Eric Robertson 1997
- Kelly Ausley-Flores 2000
- Curtis W. Harrison 2002
- Cindy V. Tisdale 2003
- Jeff Shore 2006
- Clint Westhoff 2006
- Jeff Domen 2009
- Angel J. Berbarie 2010
- P. Lindley Bain 2012
- Aimee Pingenot Key 2012
- Kevin Davidson 2017
- Rob Frazer 2018
- Ryan R. Bauerle 2018
- Hayley Collins Blair 2019
- Lindsey Obenhaus 2019
- Katie Flowers Samler 2019
- Jonathan James 2020
- Chris Nickelson 2021
- Chandler Rice Winslow 2023
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