Getting Your Child The Support They Deserve
JFK once said that children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. Your child deserves to have every opportunity for a bright future. If a child is raised by their parents separately or by only one parent, it’s important that they have the resources required to sustain them.
Whether you’ve been through a divorce or a breakup, your child’s other parent has the responsibility to pay you child support if you’re the primary caregiver. The non-custodial parent is whoever doesn’t have primary custody of the child. This parent pays child support to the parent who does.
Even if the child’s father hasn’t legally established his paternal rights in court, he could still owe child support.
When Child Support Goes Unpaid
If you haven’t received all the child support you and your child are entitled to, you may require legal assistance to recover that money. A child support collection attorney from Wirth Law Office – Oklahoma City can help you get what you’re owed.
You shouldn’t have to worry about collecting unpaid child support when you have to focus on caring for your child in every way you can. Leave it up to a skilled, determined child support collection attorney to get you the money you deserve and need to care for your child.
Let’s say that you’re behind on child support payments for whatever reason. It’s important for you to understand that unpaid child support adds up to delinquencies that become part of a judgement. You could end up paying expensive fines or even going to jail.
Fines go up to $500 and jail time could last up to six months. You could also have your driver’s license taken away until you make the payments. On top of that, there are steep interest rates on unpaid child support. You risk losing a lot more by not paying than you do by paying.
Collecting Unpaid Child Support
While you may want to keep things simple with collecting child support, that’s not always possible. When a parent refuses to pay child support, you may not be able to convince them to pay simply by talking to them. This is where an experienced child support collection attorney comes in.
Technically, you could get help from a public agency such as Oklahoma Child Support Services. However, they are inundated with a plethora of other cases that could limit their ability to give you the individual attention you and your child deserve.
When a parent has proven that they can’t be trusted to make child support payments on their own, a child support collection attorney can help you get an income assignment from them. This will garnish their wages to go towards child support payments.
Sometimes the reason that a parent doesn’t pay child support is because they can no longer afford the amount that they originally agreed upon. This can happen when they suffer a decrease in income or a sudden substantial loss of money.
In that case, that parent can file for a child support modification. Certain life changes that affect their ability to pay for child support at the current cost could merit a modification. If they can prove to the court that they need to reduce their child support obligations, they may be able to make that happen.
Consultation with an Oklahoma City Child Support Attorney
If you aren’t receiving the child support you are entitled to, a child support collection attorney can help you get that money. They can either talk to the parent and convince them to make those payments, or they can take the necessary action to get the parent to pay if they initially refuse. A family law attorney from Wirth Law Office – Oklahoma City will fight for you and your child to get what you deserve. Contact us today at (405) 888-5400 or by filling out the form at the top of the page.
