A divorce becomes even more stressful when there are children involved. You have to think about child support issues and how long it will take you to receive payments. The more complicated the child custody battle, the longer it may take to collect payments.
How Do Child Support Payments Help the Child?
Taking care of a child can be very expensive nowadays. They require food, clothing, school supplies, medical care and other necessities. That’s why child support payments are so helpful. They can take some of the burden off the custodial parent. In addition to paying for necessities, child support payments can help pay for extra costs, like extracurricular activities. For example, your child may take dance lessons after school or play her school’s soccer team.
Unfortunately, not all parents pay child support payments like they are supposed to. They may make late payments or not provide child support at all. If you aren’t receiving child support payments from your ex-spouse, there are a few things you can do. An experienced Bloomington family lawyer can help you collect the payments you need for your child.
Enforcing a Court-Ordered Child Support Obligation
If you aren’t receiving child support payments, don’t get discouraged. There are several agencies that can help you collect the child support payments you need to take care of your child. These agencies may use a few different methods to obtain these payments, like:
- Wage Garnishment. If your ex-spouse is employed, wage garnishment is an effective way to collect past due child support. However, things can get tricky if your ex-spouse changes jobs frequently or is self-employed.
- Tax refund. If you know that your ex-spouse will receive a big tax refund, you can arrange to have the refund sent to your home. A family lawyer can assess your situation and determine if it’s possible for you to collect your ex-spouse’s tax return.
- Revocation of driving privileges. In some cases, a parent could have his or her driving privileges revoked for not making child support payments. If your ex-spouse can’t get to work and other important places, he or she may be motivated to catch up on payments.
- Jail time. If your ex-spouse refuses to make child support payments no matter what you do, the court could order him or her to serve time in jail.
If you haven’t been receiving child support payments, contact a family lawyer today.
Thanks to our friends and contributors from Pioletti & Pioletti for their insight into divorce and family law.