How Child Support Legal Services Can Help Both Co-Parents
Uncontested Divorce Mediation
Posted November 12, 2020
Child support is an essential part of the modern Denver divorce mediation. Not all separating couples with children need child support, but those who do need the agreement to be fair and enforced to take good care of their children. In this situation, a lawyer who understands the inner workings of a child support agreement can make the difference between financial peace and post-divorce conflict.
Most importantly, a lawyer and mediator experienced in child custody and support matters can help you build and defend a child support plan that will work for everyone after the divorce is complete. The right lawyer or legal mediation services will work for your needs, the needs of your children, your ex, and the long-term stability of a practical child support plan.
Let’s take a closer look at what a family law service can do for you, whether you are the supported or supporting spouse.
Child Support Legal Services for Supported Parents
1) Calculate the Amount of Child Support You Need
The parent who takes the role of primary caregiver after Denver divorce mediation often needs a little extra funds to balance the financial load. You and your children need a certain amount to maintain a healthy family lifestyle, and your ex needs a certain remainder to live alone successfully. Your legal service, like mediation, will help you work out the right amount to ask for so that everyone gets what they need.
2) Defend Your Right to Child Support Payments
In many cases, the potentially paying spouse will argue that you (and your children) don’t need the additional income. A family law attorney will help you build a strong case for why you need child support and for how much. Even in the face of an aggressive anti-support case from your spouse.
3) Ensure Child Support is Included in Your Final Divorce Agreement
Divorces often involve a great deal of negotiation. What terms go in, the numbers involved, how assets are split; it’s all on the table. Your child support mediation service will ensure that payments of the needed amount are a deal-breaker inclusion in the final agreement and will write a legal divorce contract to that end.
4) Warn or Sue Your Ex for Missed Child Support
When your spouse misses a payment, your lawyer is on your side. They will send warning letters for you on a legal letterhead and, if it comes to it, they will help you sue your spouse for back payments. Your ex does not have the legal option to simply stop paying to support their children.
5) Renegotiate Child Support When Circumstances Change
And if your expenses rise (or fall) as the child grows up, your lawyer will renegotiate for new child support terms. As children grow, their lives can change significantly, as well as their expenses. Your child may fall ill, or they make dive into sports and extracurricular activities. When costs change, a lawyer can help you rebuild child support to make it work.
Child Support Legal Services for Supporting Parents
There are a lot of important decisions and compromises to make in any divorce. If you are the parent with the higher income and your ex has primary or shared custody, you may be facing an impractically high demand to pay child support.
You want your children to be well-cared-for, but you also need the child support amount to be reasonable and leave you with enough funds to live from. A family law mediation service may be exactly what you need to find the balance defend a practical child support agreement.
Previously, we talked about how an experienced family lawyer can help parents receiving child support. Now we’ll look at the five ways a family law service can help parents who are doing the financial supporting
1) Calculate the Amount of Child Support You Can Safely Pay
The first thing a Denver divorce mediation can do for you is to calculate the right range for payments. Your income, cost of living, your spouse’s income, and the cost of raising children all factor into this calculation. The right amount will be enough to support your children’s lifestyle when they are with your ex without leaving you unable to comfortably support yourself with the remainder. The right amount considers what you will personally spend on the children, as well. Your mediator will do the math and work with you to determine the right amount you should be paying, what is too high, and what is too low.
2) Defend Your Right to a Livelihood in Addition to Child Support
When your ex is after your entire paycheck (as often happens in conflict-driven divorces), you need someone on your side who can defend your right to a livelihood. Child support can be made into a heavier burden than it needs to be unless you have a family law mediator ready to push back. Your attorney will argue the time and money you spend on the child, question an excessive request for money, and enforce that your financial freedom influences the happiness of your children as well.
3) Ensure Final Child Support Agreement is Fair and Flexible
Child support agreements also need to be fair and ready to change with circumstances and costs. If your ex gets a better job, if your income drops, or if your children’s expenses change, you need a flexible child support agreement. Your mediator will keep things fair by ensuring that the final agreement is written in an equitable and flexible way.
4) Defend Against Accidental or Unavoidable Missed Payments
While there are tons of “deadbeat” parents out there who don’t pay child support, you’re not one of them. And if circumstances arise so that your child support payment is late or bounces, you don’t need a sheriff at your door with court papers. If your spouse is watching for any little mistake, including the occasional late child support payment, having a lawyer on your side is essential to defend yourself and clear up any logistical misunderstandings before the court can take aggressive action.
5) Renegotiate Child Support When Circumstances Change
Finally, a family law mediation service can help you when those financial circumstances change. If you need to renegotiate the child support payments or cancel them as children grow up, your attorney will handle the legal proceedings to make this happen. They will prepare you for the re-evaluation and ensure that all the right facts are presented with evidence so the change can take place.
Seeking Assistance from Child Support Legal Services
Are you in the middle of a divorce or currently paying child support? Child support is an essential part of being a divorced parent, and the amount you pay makes a big difference in your life and the lives of your children. The advice of an experienced family-law Denver divorce mediator can help you make the right decisions for the best interests of your child and the long-term financial health of your co-parenting family. Contact Split Simple today to get started.
Split Simple
1624 Market Street #202
Denver, CO 80202
720-501-4600