Addressing Child Support Challenges
What if the father doesn’t make enough money to pay his child support? I’m Oklahoma Lawyer James Wirth, and that’s the question that we’ve received. What if the father who is obligated to pay child support pursuant to a court order that set a specific amount?
Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines
Well, first of all, you should know in Oklahoma, child support is determined by the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines. So the judge doesn’t have a ton of discretion on it, unlike spouse support, where the judge has wide discretion, could determine the amount, any number of different ways. With child support, the judge has very little discretion for the most part, and goes by the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines.
The primary factors in the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines is the income of both of the parties. So it should be based on what that person is actually making, and because of that, there shouldn’t be a situation where the person does not make enough money to afford it unless there’s been a change of circumstances or there was something wrong with the original order.
Seeking Modifications
So a lot of times somebody might not show up to court, the other party could default them, and then the court comes up with the best information they have regarding income, enters a child support order. So if that’s what happened here, then you wanna look at seeing if you can get that order vacated that was entered by default or filing for a modification.
Or it could be that when the order was entered, it was based on the father’s income at that time, but the income has since been reduced. And now he can’t afford to pay the child support because he’s not making what he was then. If that’s the case, then he would definitely wanna get into court and file a motion to modify.
Take Action Now
Child support cannot be modified retroactively, it can only be modified back to the date that you file a request to modify. So the sooner he gets into file that motion to modify, the better, so that when the new amount is determined based on the incomes at that time, it can be retroactive to the date of filing. Every month that goes on without filing is another month at a higher child support that may be more than you can afford.
Schedule a Consultation
So under the Oklahoma child support guidelines, although child support can be high, particularly if you have a number of children under that order, it is based on the guidelines. So if the father cannot pay the child support, cannot afford to pay the amount, you’re gonna wanna have an attorney look into that to see what numbers they’re based on.
Look at the order that was entered, look at the child support guidelines, see what’s entered for the father’s income, is that the amount he’s currently making or is he making less than that? If it’s less, you probably have grounds to modify that child support, wanna get it on file as quickly as possible. But if you’re dealing with a circumstance, don’t just take this information from this general video, you’re gonna wanna talk to an attorney privately and confidentially about your specific circumstances.
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