Child Support
In a divorce, child support is always an issue if the spouses have a child. Our Minnesota child support lawyers are ready to assist you when it comes to paying child support or finding an agreeable amount for you to be paid if you are granted custody of your child. Child support typically lasts until the child turns 18 years old or graduates from high school, whichever comes last.
In Minnesota, child support has several main categories: medical support, basic support, child care support.
Basic Guidelines for Minnesota Child Support
The Minnesota courts use specific guidelines when determining how much child support a parent should receive. In recent years, those guidelines have changed in that they take into account each parent’s individual income. The amount of child support is determined by the income and the amount of money it takes to care for a child every month.
Modifying a Child Support Order
Our child support attorneys and the courts understand that incomes change over the years. If this happens, our child support attorneys can help you submit a post-decree child support modification. This option is available if your financial circumstances have changed significantly. If the current order makes it impossible to fulfill your obligations or makes it very difficult, you may be able to get a court order that modifies those obligations while you are enduring financial hardship. The court will examine the request and determine if your income reduction was done voluntarily or involuntarily. The courts will be less sympathetic to your request if you have voluntarily reduced your income.
Paying Child Support is Important
Some non-custodial parents decide not to pay their child support obligations occasionally or every month. When you do this, however, you child support is in arrears and you must go before the court in order to get the obligation forgiven. Our Minnesota child support attorneys encourage you to keep up with your child support payments at all costs because the penalties for not doing so are steep. Failing to pay your court-ordered child support could result in having your driver’s license revoked, seizing your tax refunds, revoking your passport, putting liens on your property and more. In some extreme cases, you may even go to prison for not paying your child support.
Parenting Time and Child Support
Since the court treats parenting time and child support separately, failing to pay child support does not mean you do not have a right to spend time with your child. The court always has the child’s best interest in mind and spending time with both parents is one of the concepts that the courts find important. You cannot be denied the right to parenting time for not paying child support.
Free Consultation
Do you have any questions about paying child support or have you been denied your parenting time because you fell behind on your payments? Call our offices at 651-647-0087 and discuss your situation for free with one of our Minnesota child support attorneys.
