Posts Tagged ‘Child Support’

« Older Entries

Will I have to pay child support?

Sunday, February 21st, 2016

If you are the legal parent of a child, then the Commonwealth of Virginia says that you have an obligation to provide support for that child. There are actual numbers in the Code of Virginia that show the total gross family income and the amount of support that the legislature has determined is necessary for the support of up to 6 children.

Once you have that base number, that number can be increased by any work-related child care and any health insurance for the child. This will give you the total amount of support that should be provided for that child.

In the case where one parent has the child the majority of the time and the other parent has the child for less than 90 24-hour periods, the total child support obligation is multiplied by his or her percentage of the total family income and the non-custodial parent will pay his or her percentage to the custodial parent. For example, if the custodial parent earns 40% of the income and the non-custodial parent earns 60% of the income, then the non-custodial parent will pay 60% of the total child support obligation to the custodial parent.

In the case where the non-custodial parent has the child for more than 90 24-hour periods, there is another calculation where the amount of time the child spends with each parent is taken into account. The first step in this process multiplies the total child support obligation by 1.4. This higher number is then multiplied by the time each parent has the child and then multiplied by the percentage of income for each parent. This determines the total amount of child support for each parent and the difference between the two is the amount of child support that is paid by one parent to the other.

The calculation formulas are in the code, but most people use a calculation spreadsheet formula provided by a software vendor. Most attorneys, the courts, and the Department of Social Services, Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) all use these same software vendors. There is also an online provider at www.SupportSolver.com that can be used for your own calculations, although the Courts or DCSE will use their own software for the actual numbers to be in the order.

If you have any questions about this or any other legal subject, please feel free to give us a call at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at http://www.BeaversLaw.com.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Children, Support | No Comments »

Terminating Parental Rights

Saturday, January 2nd, 2016

I’ve had a few people contact me recently because they either want to voluntarily relinquish their parental rights, or they want to terminate the parental rights of an absent father. Trust me, I’m not picking on fathers but I’ve had the same question 3 times in the past 2 weeks and they all just happened to concern absent fathers.

First of all, the Courts in Virginia will not let anyone voluntarily relinquish parental rights. If both parents agree that the father won’t be involved in the child’s life, and the mother is able to properly provide for the child, there is no reason to have the court involvement at all. Just do it. Most people agree that it is better for a child to have both parents involved in their life, but it is still a personal decision.

However, if the parents think that they can get rid of a father who can not afford to pay child support and then apply for TANF to support the child, that won’t happen. And while the Courts themselves can terminate parental rights when a parent has been proven to be unfit, you can’t request that the Courts do so just because a parent has not been involved in the child’s life, and/or is unable to provide financial support.

If you have any questions about this or any other legal subject, please feel free to give us a call at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at http://www.BeaversLaw.com.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Adoption, Children, Custody, Family Law, General Information, Support, Visitation | No Comments »

Can we just agree to change the child support amount?

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

I had a person in my office recently who said that he and the children’s mother had agreed to reduce the amount of child support he had to pay because he was laid off from his old job and his new job didn’t pay as much. They even had a document that said the amount would be reduced, and it was notarized. He thought their agreement would cancel the court order.

And then she took him to court for non-payment and he was charged with failure to comply with an order of the court which included a possible jail sentence of up to one year.

First of all, when the Judge issues that piece of paper telling you what to do… it is not a suggestion….it is not an example….it is not an ‘if you want to’ or ‘if you feel like it’. It is an ORDER. That means you have to do it or face consequences.

Secondly, having a document notarized does not make it more ‘legal’ than having a document that isn’t notarized. Most of the time, a notarization just means that the person signing the document produced identification saying they were the person who’s name was on the document. This may keep your girlfriend from signing your wife’s name, but it doesn’t make the document legal.

What they should have done was to go to court to file a motion to amend child support due to a material change in circumstances. His change in employment status would probably have met the criteria for a material change, especially if both of them agreed. Then the court would have recalculated the child support payment from the date of the petition. You can also provide the court with a ‘Consent Order’ that says you agree to an amount even if that amount is different from the amount that would be calculated by the statutory guidelines.

Sure it takes time out of your day to go to court to get the amount changed….but it is probably worth it when you consider the amount of time you might be spending going to court on a show cause….and the possibility of going to jail!

If you have any questions about this or any other legal subject, please feel free to give us a call at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at http://www.BeaversLaw.com.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Children, Family Law, General Information, Support | No Comments »

Were you furloughed, and can’t afford to pay child support?

Saturday, October 5th, 2013

I get a lot of questions about child support obligations and the fact that the person ordered to make the payments has had his or her income reduced because of ___________ (there are lots of reasons, including the recent furloughs).

The most common reaction is that people just decide to not pay because they don’t have the money. This is a BAD decision.

In Virginia, if you don’t make your child support payments, you can end up in jail for up to 12 months. That’s right, you can go to jail for not making your child support payments. And guess what happens to your child support obligation while you’re in jail? It just keeps on going and your past due balance keeps getting bigger and interest on that past due balance keeps accumulating. The hole just keeps getting bigger.

You can also have any tax refunds diverted to make a payment toward child support. And your driver’s license may be suspended.

All in all, it is not a pleasant experience.

So, what are you supposed to do if you’ve been furloughed, fired, or laid off, or you just can’t find a job and your income has been reduced?

First of all, you should know how child support is calculated to see if your reduced income will make a difference. I wrote a post here about how to calculate child support and here about where to find a calculator online.

If it looks like your reduced income will make a difference, you should contact the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District (JDR) court where the last court order was entered that told you to make child support payments. Ask them about the procedure for submitting a petition to amend child support.

If your case was done through the Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE), then go to the office where your case is being handled and ask for a reconsideration and recalculation.

If your child support obligation was set during a divorce proceeding, you need to check the final decree of divorce to see if the matters concerning child support have been transferred to the JDR court.

It is sometimes confusing, so it might be a good idea to at least have a consultation with an attorney about what to do. We often have people come into the office for a consultation and we are able to give them enough information for them to complete the process on their own.

You also want to be sure to make some sort of payment on your child support even if you can’t make the entire payment each month. This shows good faith, and it will also help minimize the past due amount that is being charged interest.

What you do NOT want to do is just ignore the fact that your income has been reduced and you can not make your payments.

If you have any questions about this or any other legal subject, please feel free to give us a call at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at http://www.BeaversLaw.com.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Children, Support | No Comments »

Calculating Child Support In Virginia

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about how to calculate child support in Virginia (see the post here).

Basically, Virginia has decided that a child should be able to share in the standard of living of the parents and the parents’ gross monthly income is used as a means of determining that standard of living.

Virginia also recognizes that some things are going to cost the same whether they are used by one child or 3 children, so the child support obligation is a ‘unitary’ obligation for the total number of children and not a set amount for each child. For example, a family income of $5,000 per month yields a total child support obligation of $666 for one child, $1036 for two children (an increase of $370 for the second child), $1295 for three children (an increase of $259 for the third child), etc. Whether you like this idea or not tends to depend on whether you are paying or receiving the child support payment, and whether you are just starting your child support obligation or your child is reaching the age at which a child support payment is no longer required.

The mechanics are still the same as when I wrote the previous post and the support numbers are still available in the Code of Virginia at section 20-108.2. And there are still a number of specific details that might cause your individual case to be calculated just a little bit differently.

What has changed is that there used to be a lot of places online where you could find a child support calculator. Notably, the Department of Social Services used to have an online calculator and consumers could go there to get an estimate of what they might receive, or what they might be ordered to pay. There is still a menu item on the DSS website pointing you to a page to calculate Child Support. However, that page now tells you that they no longer provide the calculator and you should search on the internet for a place to purchase software to do the calculation for you.

I’m an attorney, and I calculate child support every week, so it might make sense for me to purchase the software. However, you might only want to calculate child support once a year at most and it doesn’t really make sense for you to purchase anything. So I wanted to see if I could find a place on the internet to send my clients who were wanting to figure out what might happen to their child support if they got a raise (or a reduction) in pay.

My new favorite place to find Virginia online child support calculations is by going to SupportSolver.com.

A parent who doesn’t deal with child support all the time may not know what goes into each specific line, but they can always just enter the basic income information and get a good starting estimate of the support amount. Reading the line items on the form can also be a good tool for forming questions to ask your attorney when you meet to discuss child support.

If you have any questions about this or any other legal subject, please feel free to give us a call at 757-234-4650 or visit our website at http://www.BeaversLaw.com.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Children, Family Law, General Information, Support | No Comments »

« Older Entries