Typically, when a court decides the
question of child custody, it also decides the question of child support. The parent who is awarded (whether by a court or by agreement) the primary custody of the children, it also the parent who is entitled to receive child support payments. In Texas, the amount of child support due is set out in the Texas Family Code. If the divorcing parties have only one child, the amount of child support due is equal to 20% of the non-custodial parents net resources up to the first $6,000. If there are two children, the amount is 25%, and so on. The Texas Family Code provides a table which lists the percentages due depending on the number of children before the court and the number of other dependents the obligor (person paying the child support) has. Net resources is defined by Section 154.062 of the Texas Family Code to basically include 100% of all wage and salary income, tips, bonuses, overtime pay, interest, dividends, royalty income and self-employment income. When a spouse is a participant in a 401(k) Plan or other retirement plan, the amount withheld is added to the gross pay to determine net resources. If a spouse makes more than $6,000/net per month, it is up to the judge to determine how much in excess of the $6,000/month should go towards child support. When the judge signs the Final Decree of Divorce, he or she also typically sign a Withholding Order, directed to the obligor’s employer. Through the Withholding Order, the employer is required to withhold child support payments and remit them to the State Registry. In Texas, child support payments are made through the Texas Child Support Disbursement Unit in San Antonio, TX. The Unit is operated by the Texas Office of the Attorney General. If you are in the process of finalizing your divorce and are the parent who will be receiving child support, I suggest you sign up for direct deposit through the Texas Child Support Disbursement Unit. This will shorted for you to receive your monthly child support payments. In addition to paying child support, the obligor must also pay for the children’s health insurance premiums. If the spouse who is ordered to pay child support does not carry insurance for the children, but the obligee spouse does, the obligor must reimburse the obligee for all the health insurance premiums incurred by the oblige on behalf of the children.
What if you are owed past-due child support? You have two basic options. One option is to request assistance from the Office of the Attorney General. This assistance is free of charge, but you may have to wait some time before getting relief. The second option is to hire an attorney to enforce the past-due child support that is owed to you. To enforce past-due child support, you would file a Motion to Enforce and ask that the child support arrears be reduced to judgment. You may also be entitled to recover pre-judgment interest and attorney’s fees. You also have the option to ask the court to hold the non-paying spouse in contempt of court. If the non-paying spouse is found in contempt of court, the court may sentence him or her to jail, put them on probation, order the payment of a fine, or the combination of any of these. Once a court ordered child support payment is past-due, it cannot be retroactively modified. If you obtain a judgment for past-due child support, it may be collected just like any other judgment, except that the child support lien is much broader than the general property lien available for run-of-the-mill creditors. Give us a call if you have a child support judgment in need of collection.
