Child support in Texas can be a contentious issue at any stage of the proceedings. Whether you’re trying to locate the non-custodial parent for Texas child support payments, or you need to make modifications to your child support payments, it can be a volatile subject.
Child support in Texas is determined by the courts if parties cannot come to a mutual agreement on their own accord.
It’s a good idea for custodial and non-custodial parents alike to have a Dallas family law attorney from the start. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve recently been through a Texas divorce or whether you are unmarried parents who don’t often communicate. A Dallas family law attorney will work with you to secure the comfort and financial welfare of your children, while seeing that your respective financial situations are taken into full consideration.
Child Support Considerations in Texas
Texas law provides relatively few factors when determining a child support award. It doesn’t matter what your rent or mortgage payment may be, or that you have an ongoing medical condition that needs regular attention.
The 4 main things taken into consideration in regards to Texas child support are:
- your income;
- your ex’s income;
- the number of children you have; and
- how much time your child spends with each parent.
A Dallas family law attorney can fight to make sure that the entire scope of your life is addressed in a Texas child support case. Since the courts will make such a huge decision for you, you’ll want to make sure you have a Dallas family law attorney who can speak on your behalf.
Special Child Support Circumstances in Texas
There are some instances where Texas courts will consider extenuating circumstances. When this happens, the non-custodial parent’s child support payments may be increased or decreased.
Circumstances that can alter a Texas child support order include:
- child care paid by the custodial parent during work hours;
- child care paid by the custodial parent to return to school; and
- medical care and/or insurance not covered by the custodial parent.
This means that if a custodial parent is paying extra money for child care while at work, the non-custodial parent must make up the difference. In the case of medical insurance, if the custodial parent does not have insurance, the other parent may be ordered to provide medical insurance for the children.
It doesn’t matter if you have the majority of custody of your kids, or if you only see them on weekends, each parent wants to feel they are paying their fair share. A Dallas family law attorney can look out for you in these circumstances, to advocate you are only shouldering expenses that you can realistically afford.
