If you're a divorcing father who struggles to keep up your children's child support payments, you may wonder if there's any way you can overcome this obstacle without alienating the other parent. Although child support is crucial to your children's well-being, it can be difficult for some dads to meet their obligations on time, especially if the payments are higher than the fathers' income. The tips below can help you make ends meet without affecting your court-ordered child support payments.
Change How You Shop and Pay Bills
One of the biggest obstacles some men face today is maintaining a healthy spending budget during and after divorce. If the other parent shopped for groceries and purchased household goods while you worked outside of the home, you may not know exactly how much these things cost until you have to buy them yourself. You may buy items that cost more than your monthly income allows. The unexpected expenses may prevent you from making your child support payments on time.
If you develop a food and household budget, you may be able to avoid overspending each month. A budget allows you to set aside, or allocate, a specific amount of money for your groceries and household expenses. You can also use the budget to help you purchase cheaper items, such as bulk-sized vegetables and economy-sized bath soap. You may need to make changes to your budget regularly until you find one that works best for you.
If you still struggle to make ends meet while paying child support, ask a divorce attorney for guidance.
Consult With a Family or Divorce Attorney
If your income decreased significantly over the course of your divorce, an attorney may ask the family court to modify your child support order. Child support modification allows the court to lower your child support payments if your monthly or yearly income falls below a certain amount. You may need to submit paycheck stubs, tax forms, and other evidence of your new income to family court before it changes your child support order.
It may take some time before a family court decides on your child support modification case. Until a court decides on your case, you want to keep up with your current child support payments as much as possible. If you fall behind on your payments, the family court may not grant your modification claim until you catch up.
You can learn more about modifying your child support payments by contacting a divorce lawyer today.
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