When It's Time to Revisit The Support Order

How long has it been since your order for support was
entered before the court? Have circumstances changed since
that order for support was signed by the judge? Has there
been a significant change in circumstances such as job loss
or job enhancement? Has the need for support increased or
declined since the order for support was entered?

If you are like most people, you are currently operating
under a support order, which is currently out of touch.
Whatever the statutory guideline amounted to at the time
the order was entered; it's likely that the terms are not
being complied with, under the terms of the order. For
example, if the court ordered that 20% of the payor's net
income go towards the support of the minor child, and the
payor has had a significant increase in income since the
time the order was entered, the child is clearly not
receiving what the court nor the legislature intended the
child to receive. Play to counteract this, is to bring a
motion before the court for a modification and/or increase
in child support. The payor will have to produce proof of
income, which can include recent paycheck stubs, the most
recent year's income tax filing, and any other source of
income that he or she may have received in the last year.
The payor may be willing to submit this information
voluntarily or he or she may produce such information only
after the filing of a subpoena to produce such documents.
In any event, once the information is provided, the
attorney for the payee can make an educated estimate of
what the proper amount of support calculates to at the
present date.

The payee may be surprised to see that the payor's income
has increased significantly. The payor may be shocked that
he or she must pay an additional amount per month then what
was originally ordered by the court.

The bottom line is that the court and the legislature
provided a means to determine the proper amount of support.
The court also provided the means to go back to court and
have the amount adjusted for present day circumstances.
The payor also has the ability to petition the court for a
proper reduction is circumstances have changed. The goal
is to simply get the proper percentage corrected. The goal
is not to provide an arena for protracted litigation on the
issue of support.

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