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One county reaches out to help parents with child support orders

On Behalf of | Aug 28, 2019 | Child Support |

Parents who find themselves in an unsustainable relationship often find themselves facing some challenging decisions. One of the most difficult is deciding with which parent a child will reside and which parent will be primarily responsible for providing child support. Though the majority of non-custodial Texas parents intend to ensure that their children’s needs are met, life circumstances may make it difficult to meet their support obligations.

One county in another state has taken the initiative to reach out to select parents about their child support orders. In the third mailing related to this new project, the county’s Child Support Enforcement office reached out to two sets of parents: those with support orders $50 and under who consistently make payments, and those with orders of $500 or more a month who are behind. There are guidelines that can be followed for making adjustments to these types of support payments.

The letters to those with lower support amounts and timely payments are requested to meet about possibly increasing payments when possible. For those who are not consistently paying, enforcement personnel are offering an opportunity to possibly lower those payments in order to ensure that custodial parents are receiving some assistance in providing for their children. Surprisingly, the response to the letters has been much lower than anticipated. Officials believe that parents are suspicious that the letters are a ploy to issue arrest warrants for non-payment of support.

For those parents who have requested a review, child support payments were lowered an average of more than $430 a month. For those with the financial means, payments were raised by approximately $337 a month. It is possible for Texas parents who are struggling with receiving timely payments or are unable to meet their obligations to request a modification. An experienced family law attorney can assist parents in filing a modification in those circumstances where such actions may be appropriate.