Unless a court terminates an individual’s parental rights, both legal parents must provide for the health and well-being of their children. Typically, the parent without residential custody makes support payments directly to the primary custodial parent. These payments help compensate custodial parents for general costs associated with child-rearing, such as transportation, food, clothing, healthcare, education, housing, and utilities.
While many parents make these payments willingly, others refuse or stop providing necessary support. In such cases, a dedicated family law attorney can help you fight for arrears or modify a support order when a co-parent fails to uphold their support obligation. If you are the paying party, our New Haven child support lawyer can also help you obtain a fair agreement that allows you to support your child while staying financially stable.
Determining the amount of child support that one parent may owe involves calculations based on the child’s needs and the paying party’s disposable income. In general, Connecticut judges begin with each parent’s gross income and deduct certain allowable expenses, such as taxes, health insurance premiums, mandatory union dues, and qualifying health care costs, to determine net income for purposes of calculating child support.
Exceptional circumstances, or deviation criteria, may allow for an increase or decrease in the payments owed. The state courts may modify the amount of child support payments if one or more of the following are true:
Any changes in either party’s circumstances can affect the amount owed or received. Additionally, divorcing spouses can contractually agree to pay support above the state-required minimum. A lawyer in the New Haven area can help submit a motion to modify child support obligations if a parent believes the existing orders are unfair.
Knowing when child support obligations end is essential in family financial planning. In Connecticut, child support obligations generally continue until a child reaches the legal age of majority, which is 18. However, support obligations do not end if a child is still pursuing their high school education. If your child is still in high school when they turn 18, the support would continue until they finish high school or turn 19, whichever happens first. There are other specific circumstances where obligations deviate from the norm, including the following.
If a child who has not yet reached the age of majority no longer relies on their parents for financial support, they can be legally emancipated and would no longer require child support. Legal emancipation can occur in different ways, such as through marriage, active duty military service, full-time employment that is sufficient to support them, or through a court order declaration of emancipation.
In Connecticut, support for children with special needs does not always end at 18. A court can order continuation of support for a child with a severe intellectual or physical disability until they turn 26. However, a court may ask a parent to provide proof of the child’s specific impairment and a detailed description of how it affects their ability to provide for themselves financially.
In addition, the adult child who needs support must live with one of their parents and be financially dependent on that parent for most of their needs. The strict formula used to calculate standard child support payments would not apply. Instead, the court would look at the individual facts relating to their specific needs and the parents’ abilities to pay.
Child support obligations would also end immediately upon the untimely death of a child. Additionally, if the paying parent dies, the support obligations might automatically end, or they may continue according to provisions set forth in the paying parent’s will or through life insurance. If the receiving parent dies, the support obligations would not necessarily end. Instead, they should continue with the child’s new guardian.
Our knowledgeable New Haven attorneys can meet with you to help you understand how long your child support obligations will likely apply, depending on your specific family’s needs and circumstances.
Parents with overdue support obligations or unpaid arrears can face legal consequences, such as money withheld from their paychecks or tax returns. State support enforcement workers often partner with legal professionals to obtain past due monies and interest from parents.
If a payor does not have stable employment and owes an arrearage, an attorney may ask the state to place a lien on their property. A New Haven attorney can help a parent obtain adequate child support from the individual who is having trouble making their payments.
Although most child support orders are effective on the date of the court judgment, courts can also make support orders retroactive by ordering that payments begin as of a certain effective date. Back payments can help a receiving parent by providing them with financial assistance for the time period before the formal court-mandated child support order.
A Connecticut court can order back child support if they determine that the parent who should have been paying had the financial means to do so. A retroactive child support order can be helpful if the child’s parents were unwed at the time of birth, particularly if paternity was in dispute. For instance, if the biological father disputed paternity and the mother had to pursue a paternity suit, depending on the court backlog, the matter may take a few months or even a year for the court to order DNA testing and resolve the matter.
With a retroactive child support order, the mother would be able to receive past child support payments from the now-established biological father, potentially going back to the date of their child’s birth. However, a court can only mandate that a paying parent pay retroactive child support for a period of three years prior to the filing.
If you believe that you should have received child support payments but did not have an existing court order, our diligent New Haven attorneys can help you pursue a judgment for back payments going back up to three years. Even if your child has already turned 18, you may still be eligible to collect retroactive support for some of the years that your child’s co-parent should have been paying.
At Dolan Divorce Lawyers, our legal team appreciates how hard you work to provide for your children. Whether you need help obtaining child support, modifying your payment agreement, or contesting your obligation to provide support, reach out to one of our attorneys. A New Haven child support lawyer can fight for your children’s best interests and secure the payments you are owed. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.
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