Must You Continue Paying Child Support if the Children Live With You Now?

Child support under California law is calculated based on several key factors, including the income of the parents, the number of children, and where the children spend their time. If children are living with you some or all of the time, it is expected that you support them when they are physically with you- thus you won’t have to pay support to the other parent for this time.

If you have a child support order in place based on an old custody arrangement and the custody agreement has changed, you’ll need to seek modification of your custody and support orders. You must continue paying child support until the court orders change, so do not hesitate to contact an Irvine child support lawyer at Brown & Charbonneau, LLP so our attorneys can help you to move forward with getting your court orders modified.

Continue Paying Child Support Until Custody & Support are Modified

You must continue paying child support until custody and support orders are modified because you do not want any adverse enforcement actions to be taken against you. If a court order requires you to pay, it is not a good idea to just discontinue making the payments.

The first step towards getting your child support amount changed is to make sure your custody arrangement is legally changed as well. If the children have moved in to your home but you have not actually changed your legal custody agreement, you need to do this right away. Not only is this a prerequisite to getting your child support obligations modified, but you also want a custody order in place to protect your children.  Even if the other parent has agreed the kids can stay with you, if he or she changes his mind, you’d have to go back to the original custody plan as required by your court order if it wasn’t modified to reflect the new living arrangement.

If both parents support changing the custody order, then you can submit a joint motion to make the change and the process will be fast and easy. After your custody agreement is changed, you can have your child support order modified so you won’t have to continue paying child support while your kids live with you.

If the other parent doesn’t want a legal change to the custody agreement, you will have to go to court and convince the court there has been a material change in circumstances. If the court believes it is in the best interests of the child, the court will modify the custody arrangement so your children can legally live with you. You can then have your child support order changed to reflect the new living situation.

To learn more and to get help getting your child support order modified so you do not have to continue paying child support and pay for the kids in your care, contact Brown & Charbonneau, LLP today. Our Irvine custody lawyers can help you to get your custody and support orders modified, and may be able to help you obtain support from the other parent if your kids are now living with you full time. Call today to learn more.