Child Support

Child support in Texas is not an option or a negotiation.

All parents, married or not, must support their children financially. However, support varies from one family to another and not all agreements are created equal. So you strongly benefit from good legal counsel in these matters, which will impact your financial situation for years to come.

Here are answers to some questions you might have:

In cases where parents share joint custody, no child support is required.
But a parent who makes significantly less than the other parent may still qualify for support from the higher-income parent, even though the parents equally share custody.

When a noncustodial parent pays child support in Texas, it is calculated by multiplying the paying parent’s net income by a percentage. This percentage is pre-established by the State of Texas. The more complex issue here may be calculating the income of the parent with the obligation. Besides salary, net income can include commissions, tips, overtime, dividends, disability, etc.

Once the next income of the non-custodial parent is established, child support is calculated this way:

Even with these established guidelines, variations are negotiable. A divorce settlement may have a parent supporting a child through college, or sharing college expenses, or maintaining a medical or life insurance policy for the child.

You may also have questions about how support is paid, whether support can be modified, and what the consequences are if a parent can no longer afford the payment the court originally established.

Perhaps your case involves delinquent child support payments aka “a deadbeat parent”? You have options to collect, like:

Whatever your particular situation, let the Family Law experts at the Jarvis Law Firm  put your mind at ease, protect your rights and the right of your child to be supported and allowed to thrive.