Morganton Child Support Lawyer

When you agree to make child support payments to an ex-partner, you are taking steps to help protect your child’s future. These payments are designed to give your child the resources they need to contend with unexpected emergencies and daily needs. Some payments may even have the flexibility to give your child access to small luxuries.

It’s with these goals in mind that North Carolina family law court calculates your expected child support payments. The state refers back to its North Carolina’s Child Support Guidelines as well as child support worksheets to help both you and your ex-partner determine what payments you can afford. North Carolina does not expect both parents to provide a child with equal support.

Specifically, North Carolina takes the following factors into account when calculating the child support you’re expected to pay after a divorce or separation:

• Your income as established by existing paystubs, unemployment, or other forms of financial support
• The means through which you may increase your income in the immediate future
• Your child’s essential needs, ranging from healthcare to educational expenses
• Funds to contend with unexpected healthcare emergencies
• The standard of living your ex-spouse and child are used to

These factors are incredibly difficult to calculate on your own, so a child support lawyer can help estimate what you may owe. 

You Can Modify Your Child Support Payments Later in Life

North Carolina considers the factors that establish your child support payments once. While the state tries to account for the changes that might alter your income in the future, it cannot predict layoffs or personal emergencies. Nor will the state automatically account for these changes in your income without you telling them.

The good news is that you can request that the state modify the child support payments you’re expected to make. You need to file a Motion to Modify to inform the state that your financial circumstances have changed. You can then work with a child support attorney in Morganton to elaborate on your financial difficulties and request a reduction in expected payments.

Not all divorces are amicable. Even after you’ve concluded divorce proceedings, your ex-partner may make false accusations and claim that you failed to provide them with child support payments. You can challenge these accusations with a child support attorney’s help and defend your right to financial autonomy.

There are occasions, however, wherein money may be tight and you might miss a child support payment. If this is the case for you, don’t panic. You can bring the Motion for Order to Show Cause for Failure to Comply with a Child Support Order you received to our office and ask for guidance.

It can be difficult—and even emotionally exhausting—to have conversations about child support with your child’s other parent. While you can have these conversations on your own, you can also bring in a child support attorney or even a mediator to oversee your discussions. 

These parties can keep you on top of North Carolina’s child support requirements without derailing your conversation. Moreover, you may already be meeting with them, as North Carolina requires divorcing couples to undergo mediation before they go to divorce court.

If you have questions about how to approach child support conversations with an ex-spouse, let King Law know. You can meet with our child support attorneys ahead of your initial conversations and plan your approach.