Author Bio: Elizabeth Roque is an in-house writer for Franklin Debt Relief. She presents information about debt relief programs, credit card debt reduction and getting out of debt on a variety of financial sites online.
Regardless of the reasons why you chose to get divorced or whether it was a good or bad one, both parents are still responsible for the care of their children. Since both are not going to be around anymore, a widely accepted substitute is financial support to help the single parent care for the children better. Child support is not a form of punishment for one parent or another, but is designed to help raise the standard of living for kids instead; so everyone with children that have become separated or divorced is entitled to child support if they are the ones caring mainly for the children.
Start with getting a child support order. There is an official way to go about getting an order for child support, so if things go wrong you have a way to prove you are supposed to collect and you can take it to court if the other spouse doesn’t pay. Make sure you verify that the amount on that paper is the amount you expect to receive every month as well.
How is child support calculated? Even though guidelines for calculation are different in every state, the guidelines are generally the same and they are always based on the same things: number of children, amount of pay spouse is receiving, the needs of the child, and the ability of the parent to pay. However, in a few select states, the amount a parent is making is not factored into how much must be paid for child support.
Once support has been written up and calculated, it is then the responsibility of the absent parent to pay the money directly to the custodial parent and, in some extreme cases, through a court ordered program. The court program is becoming more common simply because it’s an easy way to enforce that payments are being made.
What happens if the absent parent doesn’t make payments? Simply put, nothing good. Federal law requires that all states make pursuit of child support payments available to everyone who needs it, even if they can’t afford it.
When beginning the child support enforcement process, you only need a copy of your support order, the name of the absent parent, and their social security number so they can be tracked. Once it has been established that this person is not making the payments they are legally bound to make, their wages can be withheld and they can even get jail time if it continues.
Don’t be afraid to get the child support you need to support your kids. Contact a professional today.
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