No parent wants to be in a situation where they cannot afford to provide for their child. The situation is even dire when you have a child support order in your name. After all, failing to pay child support can land you in serious trouble with the law.
However, circumstances change in life. If you have lost your job, one of the challenges you will have to grapple with is meeting your financial obligations, including paying child support if you are required to do so. If you find yourself in this situation, it is normal to wonder what will happen next.
Your options when you can no longer pay child support
Once it has become apparent that you can no longer pay child support, it is important that you understand the options at your disposal. One of these would be petitioning the court to modify the existing child support order. To review and approve your modification appeal, the court will need to take a look at the circumstances that lead to your job loss.
Basically, the court will want to find out if you deliberately did something to lose your job in order to escape your child support obligation. While it may seem unfair that the court would even imagine that you would do something silly to avoid paying child support, it is crucial to ensure that your job loss had nothing to do with you attempting to avoid your child support responsibility.
Child support modification following your job loss
Depending on the facts of your case, the court will determine if your job loss and subsequent loss of income are temporary conditions. As such, the court will order a temporary modification of your child support amount. This modification will remain in place until you can find another job before the court can decide whether to restore it back to the original amount. The decision to review your child support amount upwards will be subject to your new income.
Losing your job when you have a child support order in your name can be very stressful. Find out how you can petition the court for child support modification if you are no longer able to keep up with the existing child support order.
