Alpharetta Child Support Lawyer
Divorce or separation can often place parents into difficult financial situations. These situations can be even more difficult if you must support your children in addition to yourself. To cope with the change in financial situation, you may be able to receive child support to help cover the costs associated with continuing to raise your children.
If you are a parent who is going through a divorce or separation, or if you have never lived with your child’s other parent, a family law attorney can help. An Alpharetta child support lawyer can help you determine an arrangement that will ensure you pay or receive appropriate financial support for your children.
Financial Support Is a Child’s Right
Both parents have a legal obligation to provide financial support for their children. The right to financial support belongs to the children. Even when the parent who provides a home for the children does not need the money, they cannot waive the other parent’s obligation to pay.
The obligation to pay support does not depend on whether the parents are or were ever married; single parents have the same support obligation as others. It also does not matter whether an unmarried man legitimized his child.
When a man has not acknowledged paternity, the mother must establish the man is the child’s father. The mother or the Division of Child Support Services can bring a legal proceeding seeking to prove the child’s paternity through genetic testing. When a man is proven to be a child’s father, he has the obligation to pay child support but no other parental rights unless he legitimizes the child. An Alpharetta child support attorney can explain these details more during a private meeting.
What Is an Attorney’s Role in Child Support Agreements?
Child support can be complex and influenced by several different factors. An attorney in Alpharetta can help parents understand Georgia State child support laws and identify the specific issues and circumstances that a court may take into consideration prior to rendering a final judgment.
In many instances, the non-custodial parent (the spouse who no longer lives with the former couple’s children following the divorce or separation) is responsible for remitting support payments. Georgia State regulation O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15 dictates that each parent’s gross income will be the primary determining factor in calculating these monthly remittances. The exact amount a parent must pay is then determined by factoring in numerous adjustments and deviations based on the individual’s and the child’s specific circumstances, needs, and expenses. In Georgia family courts, a child support worksheet is used to determine the range of child support amount given these factors.
Mandatory and Non-Mandatory Deviations to Child Support
Parents must use the child support worksheet to determine the suggested child support amount. The law also mandates certain adjustments to the amounts. For example, parents must consider childcare costs when determining the amount of child support. Each parent is responsible for half the cost of childcare necessary for the parent to go to work or attend school. The cost of health insurance for the children is also a mandatory deviation.
Additionally, there are multiple non-mandatory deviations that can adjust the amount of child support due to low income, high income, or when the parents have near-equal parenting time. A deviation also may be appropriate when one or more of a couple’s children have extraordinary health or educational needs. Alpharetta parents should work with an attorney that is familiar with the current version of the child support guidelines, worksheet, and deviations.
What Is the Typical Duration of an Order in Alpharetta?
In most cases, child support orders remain in effect until the child receiving it attains emancipation, gets married, or reaches adulthood. Until that time, child support orders typically remain unchanged. However, courts may hear modification requests.
Modifications are typically only granted if either parent can demonstrate a significant change in their financial circumstances or prove that a major change in the child’s current and future financial needs has occurred.
Some child support deviations that are currently non-mandatory will become mandatory in 2026. Parents should speak with an Alpharetta child support attorney to find out whether modification of the child support order is necessary to account for the new mandatory deviations.
Enforcing Alpharetta Child Support Orders
Unfortunately, some parents ordered to pay child support do not always do so. In such instances, the Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Child Support Services may be able to help. This State government agency will attempt to locate the parent in question and establish a support order. Should the parent still fail to provide appropriate child support, they could be subjected to a variety of disciplinary actions, including a contempt order.
A child support lawyer in Alpharetta can advise parents of other legal actions one spouse can initiate, such as filing a contempt motion, to try and recoup support payments from a parent who has failed to carry out this responsibility. When a parent is found in contempt of court for not paying child support, the judge can impose numerous penalties including:
- Suspend the parent’s driver’s license
- Suspend their professional or business license
- Intercept their federal and state tax refunds
- Garnish their wages
- Seize the money from their bank account
- Put a lien on their property
The judge also could sentence a parent to serve time in jail, pay a fine, and pay the receiving parent’s attorneys’ fees.
An Alpharetta Child Support Attorney is Here to Help
Child support can be an important asset in ensuring your child’s/children’s well-being following a divorce or separation, or when you or your co-parent have always raised your child alone. However, this process requires understanding a great deal of information that can be confusing.
An Alpharetta child support lawyer can be an ally and help you sort through this information. Together, you can work towards a plan that will help provide for your children so that you have one less thing to worry about.
