Child support agreements in Orange County, Florida are subject to modifications as situations change. Both payers and recipients of child support may request alterations to the arrangements as long as there has been a significant change in circumstances. If you need to modify a child support agreement, contact the skilled attorneys at Orlando Family Team for sound advice and excellent legal representation.
We routinely help parents navigate family court and assist them in obtaining child support modifications. We are well aware that many factors may make the original child support arrangements unsuitable or impossible to maintain, and will work tirelessly to find a practical solution.
Our familiarity with the procedures involved and with court personnel will make the process as smooth and stress-free as possible. We will explain each step we take, answer all your questions, and always focus on protecting your parental rights and the best interests of you and your child.
Raising a Child in Orange County Is Very Expensive & MAy Require Support Modifications
In Orange County, the costs of raising a child have increased markedly over the years. Even with both parents working, the price of food, housing, clothing, educating, entertainment, and providing healthcare for a child continues to climb. Too many parents, both payers and receivers of child support, are having trouble keeping up with inflation.
In addition to the fact that meeting a child’s basic needs has become increasingly expensive, the past 50 years have added a new cost for a great many parents — daycare. Since nearly all parents have no choice but to work even while their children are very young, childcare costs have become a central feature of the child-raising landscape. And childcare is very expensive, frequently using up almost all of one parent’s income.
Why Child Support Modifications Become Necessary
Even though settling on a fair amount of child support may be a strenuous part of divorce negotiations, child support modifications are common. Reasons these modifications are necessary include:
- Significant changes to a child’s healthcare needs due to a serious injury, allergy, diagnosis of an autoimmune disorder, chronic condition, or life-threatening illness
- Increase in a child’s educational costs due to a diagnosis of special needs or special talents
- Decrease in the children’s care expenses, for example when the child ages out of daycare
- Decrease in support because the child becomes emancipated or reaches the age of adulthood and no longer requires parental support
- One parent’s job loss or diminished income
- One parent’s loss of medical insurance coverage
- One parent’s serious, incapacitating, or permanently disabling injury or illness
- Either parent now has another child
- One parent’s incarceration
- Change in child custody arrangements
- One parent’s altered work schedule which changes parenting time arrangements
- One parent’s significant increase in income or assets as a result of a promotion, new job, an inheritance, etc.
Our child support modification attorneys are ready to help you whichever of the above reasons apply in your case. You will find us to be not only highly capable lawyers but compassionate human beings who empathize with the challenges of what you’re going through.
Legal Restrictions That Apply to Child Support Modifications in Orange County
- Child support modifications will only be granted if the modified amount is at least 15 percent (or $50 per month, whichever is greater) more or less than the previous amount.
- With few exceptions, the court will not allow a child support modification unless at least 6 months have passed since the last one.
- In case of parental job loss, the court may require 90 days without employment before alterations to the child support agreement can be made.
- The court will not allow a parent who has voluntarily left a job to pay less in child support except in extraordinary circumstances.
Expect the Court to Make Rational Decisions
Remember that the judge has access to the divorce agreement and knows the financial facts. Therefore, if one parent has lost a job but has sizable assets and good credentials that should make finding a new job relatively easy, the court will expect child support payments to continue while that parent is receiving unemployment benefits.
Also, because both parents are expected to support their child proportionate to their respective incomes, if one parent receives a substantial bonus or gets a much higher paying job, the court will expect that individual to increase child support payments.
Our Child Support Modification Attorneys Are Here to Support You No Matter What
At Orlando Family Team, we are aware of the direct impact resolving your child support modification issue will have on your child’s well-being and your own. We will do whatever it takes to negotiate or litigate a solution to your problem. Whether you need additional funds to support your child or time to recover from a traumatic event that interferes with your ability to pay child support, Orlando Family Team will stand by you until the situation is resolved.
If you are the parent paying child support and are presently unable to do so, we will help you to avoid the potential consequences of being delinquent in payments (garnished wages, liens on personal property, seizure of bank assets, damaged credit, having tax refunds, unemployment or workers’ comp benefits withheld, or incarceration). We have the skill set to persuade the court
to make a distinction between a deadbeat parent and one who has suffered a catastrophe.
On the other hand, if you are the parent receiving child support, we will be undeterred by the other parent’s excuses for late, incomplete, or missing payments, and fight aggressively to make certain your child receives every dollar they are entitled to.
Contact Our Orange County Child Support Modification Attorneys Now
The sooner you get in touch with us, the sooner we can provide the guidance and strong legal advocacy you require to resolve your issues regarding child support modification. You can have confidence in us. We will always treat you with respect, discretion, and personal concern. Contact us today so we can begin working towards a peaceful, positive solution to your case.
