How is child support affected by child support arrears?
Child support is a financial obligation that may be awarded to parents after a divorce or separation. This order is usually made by a judge in the court system. It is designed to assist the child in maintaining the same lifestyle that the child might have enjoyed if both parents were still together.
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The amount of child support owed can be a huge issue in many situations, but it is also an area where both parties are concerned about their futures. If you owe child support to your ex, there are a few things that you need to know in order to understand how it is affected by arrears.
Arrears are the back payments that a noncustodial parent has accumulated and a custodial parent has a right to enforce them as soon as they have been accumulated. There are a few ways that the Support Collection Unit can go about enforcing these payments.
First, there are some ways that the Support Collection Unit can try to collect child support owed by a noncustodial parent. One of these methods is wage garnishment, which is where the government automatically takes money from the noncustodial parent’s wages and deducts it for payment of support debt.
In addition to this enforcement tool, the state can also take other legal steps to collect past-due support. These include freezing bank accounts and seizing property to pay the past-due support.
You can file a motion to request the court to reduce or cancel your child support arrears, but you have to show that it’s in your child’s best interests to do so. If you do, the court is likely to approve the reduction.
Another way that the court can reduce or cancel your child support arrears is through a modification of your order. The court will look at your income and expenses and will adjust the amount of support that you owe.
If your situation has changed, such as losing your job or filing for bankruptcy, you may be able to request a modification of your child support order. You need to provide the court with all of your current income and expenses.
This is very important because the court will need to see that your income and expenses are not too much to meet the needs of your child. If your income is too high, the court might decide that it’s not in your child’s best interest to change your support order.
There are other possible ways that the court can decrease or cancel your child support arrears, though these usually require more effort than a modification of your order. These options can include a settlement of your past support, an installment plan compromise, or a lump-sum compromise. The court can also approve a waiver of some or all of your child support arrears with the approval of both of you.