But we had a deal! (The danger of going off the child support order)
Imagine this: You lost your job and can no longer afford the same child support. Instead of going through the legal process of changing the order, you speak with the other parent and ask for a new deal in paying less child support as ordered, or temporarily stop paying until you find a job. The other parent verbally agrees, so you proceed as planned. A year later, you find yourself in court for failure to pay your child support on time. As you sit in the hallway of the courthouse, you can’t help but wonder how you get stuck in that situation.
Now, there may be situations in which you can salvage the damages done. However, it is often not without a lengthy and expensive legal process. Much of which can be avoided if the situation is handled the right way.
The question is, can you really trust the other party to be truthful? What if there was a miscommunication? What if you never reached an agreement and this was all your misunderstanding?
There is a reason why the legal process allows litigants to modify child support orders under certain situations, as defined in Texas Family Code Sec. 156.401. Under most circumstances, you are required to follow the court’s orders until it has been modified. When you meet the requirements and modify your child support order through the proper route, you are given the assurance that the money you paid toward child support based on the court’s order will be recorded correctly and credited to you fully.
On the other hand, when you go outside of the legal process, you are risking the chance of losing that protection under the law. Moreover, you may end up having to spend additional money (money that you probably don’t have) to hire an attorney to defend you.
In the end, there is no saying as to how the situation will turn out. In a better scenario, you may receive some credit for what you have paid for. However, you may also end up being ordered to pay for the full amount of what you were ordered to pay under the court’s order (as if you have never paid anything during that time period) plus interest for the missing child support. You may also find that you have delayed the modification of the court order to the appropriate amount because you did not file for modification in a timely manner. Under some circumstances, you may suffer additional penalties such as license suspension, passport denial, liens on your other properties, being held in civil and/or criminal contempt, etc. (See How We Enforce | Office of the Attorney General (texasattorneygeneral.gov)).
Therefore, if you find yourself in need of modification of your child support order, you should probably consult with an attorney prior to taking any actions on your own.
The content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only. This is not legal advice, and your viewing of this blog does not form any attorney-client relationship.
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