Meeting Your Children’s Financial Needs
One of the most important issues family law attorneys deal with is facilitating agreements regarding financial responsibilities and support for minor and dependent children.
In any lawsuit involving a minor child, it must be decided how the child will be supported financially. The Texas Family Code includes a standardized calculation for determining child support payments – but in many cases, this guideline amount isn’t realistic.
At Goranson Bain Ausley, we understand that no two families are the same – and that your children’s financial needs are unique. The attorneys in our Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Granbury, and Plano offices will work with you to find the right strategy for determining child support. Whether that’s simply following the traditional guidelines or taking an approach that’s specifically tailored to your family.
Texas Child Support Guidelines
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 his or her child. At Goranson Bain Ausley, our lawyers know Texas law regarding child support and advocate tirelessly for the outcome that is in the best interests of you and your child.
While it is almost universally viewed as a responsibility and an obligation, determining an appropriate amount of financial support often leads to disputes. This is especially true for parents with higher incomes or significant estates.
How Does The Texas Family Code Determine Child Support?
Texas Family Code child support guidelines provide that child support:
- Is typically calculated based on the paying parent’s net resources
- Parents can agree to a child support amount that is different than the standardized calculation if the Court believes 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 eighteen or graduates 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 re-marriage of either parent
Can only be changed or otherwise modified by court order
Stepparents and partners who aren’t legal parents aren’t required to pay child support under Texas law, regardless of how long they’ve been part of a child’s life.
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Establishing Child Support in Texas
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 the child is receiving the financial support necessary to meet the needs of the child.
Texas law requires both legal parents to financially support their children’s necessary expenses even after a divorce.
When Can You Deviate from Texas Child Support Guidelines?
In determining the amount of child support to be paid, the court’s main consideration is the best interest of the child. The court bases its decisions to order less or more child support than the guidelines by considering evidence of all relevant factors, including:
- The child’s age and needs
- Parents’ financial resources and ability to pay
- Amount of time the children spend in each parent’s care
- If a parent is intentionally under or unemployed
- Childcare expenses incident to a job
- Whether a parent has conservatorship or physical custody of another child
- Spousal support paid or received by a parent
- Child’s college education and post-secondary school expenses
- Housing, motor vehicle, and other benefits supplied to a parent by a third party
- Other deductions from the income of a parent
- Health insurance premiums, deductibles, and uninsured medical expenses
- Special educational, health, or other issues that affect a child or a parent
- Travel expenses associated with possession of and access to the child
- Negative or positive cash flow that affects either parent’s liquidity
- Debts assumed by a parent
- Any other reason consistent with the best interest of the child, taking into account the circumstances of the parents
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 or order that’s acceptable to all parties may be formalized in the final divorce decree. If the temporary agreement or order isn’t acceptable to all parties, it may be amended before finalization.
Permanent Child Support
Permanent child support refers to the orders that lock 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 is a substantial change in circumstance and that a different child support amount would be in the best interest of the child, they can request for a modification of the previous child support order.
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.
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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 orders, that negatively impacts their child’s life. Luckily, there are steps that 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 a 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 monies.
These 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 an active child support case doesn’t get lost in a federal or state backlog.
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Modifying Child Support Orders
As your life changes over time, the terms of your child support order may need to be modified. There are specific circumstances that must exist to do this, and it’s important that any modification be formalized through a new court order and not through informal agreements.
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 increases or decreases, the non-custodial parent becomes legally responsible for more children, medical insurance for the dependent child/children changes, custodial arrangements are altered, a major medical issue arises or the non-custodial parent is 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 they are not held responsible for back payments.
Child support orders can only be modified by obtaining a new court order. Informal agreements between parents are not enforceable and can result in legal difficulties for both parents.
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Our Experienced Texas Child Support Attorneys
Goranson Bain Ausley lawyers focus on identifying the financial needs of the child and then advocating from a “best interest of the child” perspective both in and out of the courtroom. In addition, our lawyers have an extensive background handling enforcement and modification issues. If you would like to learn more about child support and what support you may be required to pay or entitled to receive, call one of our five office locations: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Granbury, and Plano or fill out the consultation form today.