How do you fight child support
Florida Dept. of Revenue - Changing a Support Order
An order to pay child support can be changed (or modified) by the court or administrative agency that issued the order if the circumstances of either parent change after the order is issued. Until an order is changed, terminated or vacated, the amount ordered is owed and legally enforceable. To understand how the law applies in your situation, you should seek legal advice from a licensed attorney.
Do I Qualify for a Review of my Child Support Order?
How to Request a Change to a Support Order
Either parent with a child support case can ask the Child Support Program to review their support order to see if the order should be changed. Parents can also file a petition in circuit court to change their support order.
What Happens When You Ask the Child Support Program to Review Your Support Order
First, the parent making the request gives their financial and other information to the Child Support Program for review. Once this information is received, the Program contacts the other parent to obtain their information. The Program reviews the parents' information to determine if there is a substantial, permanent, and involuntary change, or it appears there are other legal grounds to change the order. When the Program completes the review, it mails the results to both parents.
If the Program Determines the Order Should Change
If the review shows the order should be changed, the Program may start a proceeding to change the order. The steps to change an order depend on whether the order is a court order, an administrative support order issued by the Program or if another state issued the order. To change a court order, the Program involves a Program attorney who handles the court action. To change an administrative support order, the Program starts by notifying the parents of the proceeding to change the order. Parents are entitled to a formal hearing before a court or administrative order is changed.
If the support order was issued by another state, that state may need to review and modify the order, if appropriate. If that is the case and you make the request to the Program, we will forward your request to the other state.
If the Program Determines the Order Should Not Change
If the Program determines the order should not change, we notify the parents of our decision and take no further action.
What is a Change in Circumstances?
The parent seeking to change (or modify) a support order has the burden to prove a change in circumstances. In most cases, before an order can be changed, a parent's change in circumstances must be substantial, permanent, and involuntary.
If it has been less than three years since the support order was issued, reviewed or changed, a substantial change means that the change in circumstances would cause a change in the order amount that is at least 15 percent but not less than $50.
If it has been more than three years since the support order was issued, reviewed, or changed, a change in circumstances means the change would cause a change in the order amount of at least 10 percent but not less than $25.
A permanent change in circumstances depends on the specific facts of the case. In most cases, to prove a permanent change, one must show the change has lasted for six months or more. Temporary or short-term changes are not enough to prove a lasting, permanent change. For example, a loss of employment is not a permanent change if you expect to find new employment. In some cases, a parent may be able to prove a permanent change right away; for example, a severe, life-changing injury or illness or retirement at the normal retirement age.
An involuntary change, comes about through no fault of the parent, like an extended illness or employment layoff. A voluntary change is a result of the parent's own choices. A voluntary change does not meet the standard for a support order to be changed.
Examples of voluntary changes include quitting a job, being terminated for reasons within the parent's control, taking a lower paying job, or engaging in criminal conduct that results in incarceration.
Note: A support order change (modification) involves applying the law to the specific facts of the case. The general principles here are only a partial statement of the law and are not legal advice. Only a licensed attorney is authorized to provide legal advice based on the specific circumstances of your case.
Other Resources
Either parent can file their own petition in circuit court to change (modify) a support order. You can hire a lawyer of your choosing or file your own petition and represent yourself. Other resources you may find helpful include:
- Florida Courts Self-Help Page for Child Support
- Find a Florida Courts Self-Help Center Near You
- Florida Courts Self-Help Resources
- Download the Florida Courts Help App | Google Play Store | Apple App Store
- Florida Bar Legal Referral Service
- Florida.
FreeLegalAnswers.org
How Can I Fight Back Child Support Payment?
Trying to fight child support payment is a difficult, yet not entirely impossible process. In order to get this movement started, one must have a viable reason for which to contest the original court order. This can be hard to find, seeing as there are very few reasons that the court will accept as appropriate for overturning the original decision. However, there are a few simple steps one can take in order to get the ball rolling and find the strongest argument possible for the case.
A Good Reason
First, it is important to figure out what reason or reasons will be brought up as grounds for fighting the payments. Courts are extremely picky as to what they will and will not allow as an argument. Thus, it is imperative to choose the absolute best defense possible so that the judge is not able to dismiss the claim.
The best reason to fight child support payments is that there is no biological link between the man who has been acting as the father and the child.
This can easily be proven through a paternity test; however, even with this evidence, it is not one hundred percent certain that the court will agree to stop demanding the payments. If a man has been in a child’s life for quite some time and has been serving as the father figure, in the court’s eyes he may still be considered the father, whether there is a genetic link or not. This means he will have no choice but to pay child support.
Another reason courts will possibly overturn payment is that the child is now an adult. Once the child reaches 18 years of age, in most states, it is no longer required that the father pay child support. Also, if the father has recently lost his job or suffered a large decrease in income, this may too be grounds for abolishing the payments. However, in this instance, most courts will only reduce payment rather than get rid of it completely, depending on the circumstances.
Evidence
After establishing a viable argument, it is imperative to have solid evidence to back every statement.
If there is documentation of any kind proving what is being said, having those documents readily available in court will make the whole process much easier and more favorable. Evidence is the main thing that will really sway a court one way or another. So, any papers, text messages, emails, DNA tests and the like are extremely helpful for winning the case.
Find an Attorney
Looking for an attorney can be stressful and overwhelming due to the immense number of them available. Be sure to look for an attorney who specializes in the certain area for which help is being sought. In this case, one who knows all the laws and regulations surrounding child support would be of the most assistance. Make sure to consider everything involved in going to court before pursuing any further action. The next step would be to speak with the attorney and file a petition for modification of the original child support agreement. Once this has been done, the process will begin to take effect.
Be Patient
Once the claim has been filed, there is not much to do but prepare for court and be patient.
Let the attorney do all of the legal work and just make sure everything is ready to testify in court. If the outcome is not desirable, there is always the option to appeal the decision and continue the process before the appellate court. However, it is usually in the best interests of everyone to just abide by the final decision of the court, and hope that it is a fair one.
By Kenny Leigh
If alimony debts have accumulated...
Veronika Salnikova
Lawyer, partner of Yakovlev & Partners
June 16, 2021
Tips
Pay attention to the date of publication of the material: the information may be outdated due to changes in legislation or law enforcement practice.
How to collect them, what threatens the parent-debtor and in what case will he be released from liability?
Through which court to collect alimony from a father with many children?
“In 2018, the Magistrate's Court ruled to collect alimony from her husband for the maintenance of two minor children.
In 2020, we had twins. Currently, the marriage is not dissolved. Tell me where to apply (to the world or district court) and how to file an application to collect alimony for twins?
Alimony (funds for the maintenance of minor children) can be collected through the court in the order of writ or action proceedings. Writ proceedings are a simplified procedure for collecting alimony in the Magistrate's Court. When filing an application, the court issues a court order without summoning the plaintiff and the defendant. Claim proceedings are carried out in the district court with the summons of the parties.
As a general rule, if the parent-debtor already pays child support, then they should be collected on other children through the district court. The mother of twins needs to apply to the district court at her place of residence or the defendant.
You can file a claim with an attorney. In addition, sample applications are often placed in courts. You can use this sample, detailing your situation and attaching supporting documents.
(Answers to other questions of alimony recipients and their payers can be found in the articles "On child support - in detail", "On the payment of alimony - on real examples", "Cross-border alimony").
What threatens a parent for non-payment of alimony?
For late payment or non-payment of alimony in full, the debtor parent may be held liable - administrative (Article 5.35.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) or criminal (Article 157 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Bailiffs bring to administrative responsibility negligent parents. This is possible in the event of non-payment without good reason of funds for the maintenance of children according to a judicial act, a court order or an agreement on the payment of alimony. The court already attracts criminal liability for malicious evasion from the fulfillment of maintenance obligations of parents.
On April 27, 2021, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation approved a resolution stating that “violation of a judicial act or agreement on the payment of alimony should be understood as non-payment of alimony in the amount, on time and in the manner established by this decision or agreement.
” Partial payment of alimony cannot exclude the application of liability measures (read about this also in the news “The Plenum of the Supreme Court clarified the nuances of administrative responsibility for non-payment of alimony”) .
In which case will the debtor parent be released from liability despite the child support debt?
If the parent-debtor has good reasons for which he cannot pay child support in the prescribed amount, he has the right to go to court and ask to change the procedure for collection. In the presence of such reasons, the debtor may be released from liability.
Valid reasons may be recognized such circumstances in which non-payment of alimony occurred regardless of the will of their payer: his illness (incapacity for work), his military service on conscription, force majeure circumstances, the fault of other persons, for example, non-payment of wages by the employer, delay or incorrect transfer bank of funds to the recipient of alimony.
The list of reasons that may be recognized as valid for exemption from liability is not exhaustive. In all cases, the judge must assess whether specific circumstances can be attributed to the number of good reasons for non-payment of alimony.
How do bailiffs force persistent non-payers to fulfill maintenance obligations?
If the parent does not just evade the payment of alimony, but hides and prevents their collection, i.e. becomes a malicious defaulter, the bailiffs start the procedure for searching for the debtor. But they can do this only if there is a statement from the alimony claimant. During the search, bailiffs try to locate the debtor and his property in order to bring him to justice and force him to fulfill maintenance obligations. How do they do it?
Bailiffs are endowed with special powers. They have the right:
- to receive personal data from the internal affairs authorities, tax authorities, the Pension Fund, registry offices, traffic police;
- check information through the customs authorities;
- check in banks information about accounts, deposits, securities;
- to interview relatives, friends, colleagues - everyone who has information about the non-payer;
- to carry out a visit to the location of the debtor's property for its examination and evaluation;
- use information obtained through the involvement of a private detective bureau or from open sources, including those posted on personal pages on social networks.
When conducting search and search activities, the bailiff interacts with employees of other units of the FSSP, the traffic police, and the police to use the information they have. If the debtor is found outside the territory that belongs to the department that accepted the application of the alimony collector, the bailiff in charge of the case is obliged to transfer it to a colleague whose jurisdiction allows further search and search work to be continued.
Named ways to deal with child support evaders: Society: Russia: Lenta.ru
Lawyer Shakina advised to assign alimony in a fixed amount to combat child support evaders What are the ways to underestimate alimony and how to deal with them. The specialist shared her advice in an interview with Lenta.ru.
Child support is collected as a share of the salary and other types of income of the debtor parent. For one child, 1/4 of the income is collected, for two children - 1/3 of the share, for three or more - half of the earnings.
“Unfortunately, the practice is such that unscrupulous parents who pay alimony have already developed many different ways to underestimate the amount of alimony. The main thing is that the law provides for ways to deal with such unscrupulous parents. If you know how to use them wisely, then with the help of alimony, you can achieve a decent level of maintenance for the child, ”Shakina emphasized.
Ways to reduce alimony
The lawyer called the concealment or minimization of the official income of the alimony payer parent as the first way to reduce alimony.
Recovery of alimony as a share of earnings makes sense only if the alimony debtor has a high official, that is, taxable, income that allows the child to have a decent standard of living
Victoria Shakinalawyer If he is an entrepreneur and works in his own company, then he can set himself a low salary, the lawyer said. “Even an ordinary employee under an employment contract can negotiate with management and underestimate the amount of income.
Approximately 30-40 percent of Russians receive an unofficial gray salary, even according to the estimates of the Russian Ministry of Finance, ”the specialist said.
She explained that it could be difficult to collect child support because payments are calculated by bailiffs based on the declared income of the parent. They take into account only the white salary, while the gray one remains unknown.
The second way to reduce alimony is to collect fictitious alimony for children from another marriage. “For example, it happens that alimony is collected from the father of a child in the amount of 1/4 of the income per child from the first marriage. Then he enters into a new marriage, and after the birth, the new wife also collects alimony, already for the second child. The court determines them in the amount of 1/6 of the father's income, since the first child is taken into account. Next, the debtor spouse files a lawsuit to reduce the amount of alimony for the first child from 1/4 to 1/6 of the share, allegedly due to the need to support the child from the second marriage.
At the same time, the new family lives with the second child, and there is no real need for him, ”Shakina explained.
Obviously, the lawyer stressed, that in this case there is an abuse of the right. Such tactics can and should be resisted, Shakina said.
How to deal with underestimation of alimony?
First of all, the lawyer recommended to apply to the court with a claim to change the procedure for collecting alimony from a share to a fixed sum of money or simultaneously in shares and a fixed sum of money.
Child support can be given as a fixed amount if it is not enough in proportion to earnings to provide the child with a normal standard of living. In this case, alimony will be collected monthly in a fixed amount and will not depend on the official income of the debtor
Victoria Shakinalawyer
The amount of hard money is determined by the court, the lawyer noted. Alimony should cover the child's previous level of support, she said. The court determines the amount of alimony, taking into account the financial and marital status of the parties and other noteworthy circumstances, the lawyer concluded.
The amount of the fixed amount is a multiple of the subsistence level per child in the region in which he lives.
“The amount of child support you want to receive must be justified to the court and provide a calculation of monthly child support with supporting receipts. Remember that both parents have an equal responsibility for the maintenance of the child, so the court can recover from the parent who evades paying child support, half of the amount that the child needs per month, ”Shakina said.
If the court made an unlawful decision to reduce child support or refused to change the order of collection, the parent has the right to appeal the decision.
“The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is well aware of various schemes for lowering alimony and cancels illegal decisions of the courts of first instance. So, if the court made an unfair decision in favor of a parent who unfairly underestimates the amount of alimony, you need to appeal against such a decision and go to the highest judicial instances, ”the lawyer shared.
