If you are a custodial parent, you are eligible to receive child support payments from the non-custodial parent. These payments are designed to help provide financial support to the custodial parent to assist in providing care and support for the children.
Child support can be sought for all children under 18 years old, or those still attending high school. Unfortunately, an oral agreement between both parents is not enough to ensure child support payment, and is also not enforceable by the courts in California.
It is highly recommended that you obtain a Child Support Order from the San Diego courts.
Back child support, also known as arrears or overdue child support, refers to the unpaid child support payments that accumulate when a non-custodial parent fails to make timely payments as required by a court order or child support agreement.
Non-custodial parents have a legal obligation to financially support their children, typically through court-ordered child support payments. These payments are intended to cover the child’s basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, education, and healthcare.
When a non-custodial parent fails to make child support payments on time and in full, the unpaid amounts accumulate over time, resulting in a backlog of owed payments known as back child support or arrears.
How to File for a Child Support Order
The first step to filing a Child Support Order in San Diego is to establish paternity of the children for which support is required.
If you were married when the children were conceived, paternity is already assumed unless one of the parents objects. If you were not married, you must file a petition with the courts in San Diego to establish legal paternity. Our attorneys can walk you through this step by filing all the necessary paperwork and locating the non-custodial parent. Once paternity has been established, we can help you file a petition with the court explaining why you are seeking child support. The courts will then use a set of guidelines to help determine how much child support the non-custodial parent should pay.
The court-ordered support amount is based on several factors, including both parents’ income, how much time the children spend with each parent, childcare costs, and the basic standard of living for both parents. We will help you complete this paperwork and ensure that the non-custodial parent’s paperwork is completed correctly, to make sure you receive the proper amount of child support.
Steps to Enforce a Child Support Order
Resolving back child support typically involves the non-custodial parent making arrangements to repay the overdue amounts through a structured payment plan or lump-sum payment. In some cases, negotiation or mediation between the parents may be necessary to reach a mutually acceptable resolution.
Unfortunately, sometimes obtaining an official Child Support Order is only half the battle because the non-custodial parent does not comply with the order. In cases like these, our experienced attorneys at Minella Law Group will work with you through the various steps to enforce the order and obtain the support you deserve.
There are several options available according to San Diego law to help entice the non-custodial parent to meet their financial obligation.
These are things such as garnishing the non-custodial parent’s wages or unemployment compensation, filing an additional order to add past arrears to regularly scheduled child support payments, obtaining a portion of the non-custodial parent’s federal or state income tax return, suspending professional or driver’s licenses, and having the non-custodial parent charged with contempt of court for nonpayment, which could mean jail time.
We will work with California Department of Child Support Services to use one or more of the options listed above to fight for your back child support.
Many parents have tried to collect child support for years, with no success, and they have given up on believing they could ever collect back child support. This is where our talented and compassionate lawyers at Minella Law Group can help.
We will help you through the entire process, by filing all the necessary paperwork, helping locate a missing non-custodial parent, attending court hearings with you, and working with the California Department of Child Support Services to try various child support enforcement options.
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Our attorneys at Minella Law Group are highly skilled and knowledgeable about the various federal, state, and local child support laws and can work with you through the entire filing process, as well as ensure that your court order is enforced. Call us at (619)537-6408 for a complimentary consultation.
