Establishing Child Support

Establishing Child Support

Establishing child support can be overwhelming when you do not know what will happen and how it will affect your family. Each family is unique, that makes each child support case unique.

The first step to establishing child support is establishing the paternity of the child. It is one of the most important steps in the child support process. If the parents were never married to each other the biological father does not have legal rights to his child until paternity is established. The mother does not have the legal right to collect child support until paternity has been established.

Paternity can be established through a court-ordered paternity test, agreement of obtaining a paternity test and then an acknowledgement of paternity.

Establishing child support helps ensure children have things like a safe home, school clothes, extracurricular activities and food. Having financial support is essential to meeting these needs. Heather Hudson helps mothers and fathers get child support orders that are reasonable, fair and appropriate to the needs of their children.

HOW IS CHILD SUPPORT CALCULATED?

Child support awards are calculated based on the non-custodial parent’s income. The state’s child support guidelines are as follows:

1 child: 20% of paying parent’s net resources.
2 children: 25% of paying parent’s net resources.
3 children: 30% of paying parent’s net resources.
4 children: 35% of paying parent’s net resources.
5 children: 40% of paying parent’s net resources.

Six or more children the non-custodial parent will not pay less than the amount of five children.

After an order has been secured for child support your attorney can assist you with setting up the order with the Attorney General Office. Once the Attorney General sets up your case, you will be given log in information for their portal. For more information on how a paying or receiving parent obtains this, please visit the Texas Attorney General website.

After securing a child support order Heather Hudson can also help you modify an existing court order for child support too. Call or email us today to schedule your consultation.