Articles Posted in Child Support Guidelines Texas

Texas Divorce Law is changing in 2021. Starting on 1/1/21 there will be new discovery rules that will apply to all family law cases, including child custody and divorce. What does this mean for people starting the process? It means it’s time to get organized. If you are going to meet with a Texas Family Lawyer in 2021 you must have certain documents and information ready from the start.

What’s changed?

Starting in January 1st, 2021 all parties to a divorce will be required to turn over certain documents within 30 days. So as soon as you are served with a divorce or child custody case you will have 30 days to respond, and as soon as you file a divorce case you will have 30 days to turn documents over to the other party.

Most people assume that if you are awarded primary custody, and you have a child living with you the majority of the time, then the other parent will pay you child support. The Dallas Court of Appeals recently heard a case in which Father was ordered to pay child support, even though Father had the child 70% of the time and was considered the custodial parent with primary custody.

How did this happen? Let’s look at In the Interest of ARW, No. 05-18-00201-CV from the Dallas Court of Appeals.

What happened in ARW?

You have a pending case involving a child (divorce, SAPCR, modification) and child support has been established.  However, like most parents you are concerned about the future—what happens when the children go to college, how will I afford their expenses then?  Most people say that you can “save the child support” but that is not ideal.  Children are expensive and it is highly likely that you will spend all of the child support and then some with all of the things that come up throughout their lives until they turn 18 or graduate from high school.  Child support ends on “removal of the child’s disabilities for general purposes, the marriage or death of a child, or a finding by the court that the child is 18 years of age or older and is no longer enrolled in high school or a high-school equivalent program.”  In the Interest of W.R.B. and B.K.B., Children.  So, what are your options to ensure that your children can get a college education and have support from the other parent?

This issue is addressed in In the Interest of W.R.B. and B.K.B., Children from the 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas.     There, the Dallas Court of Appeals addressed the issue of post-majority support which is defined as applying “only to a non-disabled child who is 18 years of age or older and is no longer enrolled in high school or a high-school equivalent program” Tex. Fam. Code Section 154.001(a).  Therefore, this creates or allows for a specific scenario in which the other parent would still be required to make support payments.  In this case, the Court held that the trial court cannot order post-majority support on its own volition but the parties can agree to post-majority support in writing.  In the agreed modification orders, the parties had done just that.  Therefore, the Court of Appeals held that it was proper for the trial court to render the order of post-majority support.  However, the issue then became that the obligor parent stopped paying the post-majority expenses and so the recipient or obligee parent filed an enforcement action seeking reimbursement of all of the expenses, attorneys’ fees and interest.

The Dallas Court of Appeals held that for post-majority support, this is after the child ages out and was based purely upon the parties’ agreement and so therefore it is not enforceable in a family law court under the Texas Family Code.  Rather, the proper avenue is breach of contract.  This is because the agreed orders, with respect to the post-majority support, are considered a contract because it is an agreement of the parties not based upon legal authority.   This is unlike the issue of child support that was ordered which remains enforceable even post-aging out of the children because the Court still maintains jurisdiction over that issue as it was awarded under the family code.

​Whether you are just now to the realization that you will have to pay child support or whether you have just been ordered, the sinking feeling may be setting in as to the fact that you will be paying this monthly amount for quite some time. The real question is, however, when does your child support obligation end? What if your child moves in with you, what if your child moves out entirely, what if your child gets married before they graduate high school? All questions to be considered when paying monthly child support.

Understand that if nothing out of the ordinary occurs and your child continues to live with the parent receiving the child support, you have a statutory obligation to continue paying your child support. More than likely, you were ordered to pay a certain amount in child support each month due on the first day of each month and every month thereafter. You may have a court order that states the following:

“and a like payment being due and payable on the first day of each month thereafter until the first month following the date of the earliest occurrence of one of the events specified below:

You are a parent who has primary possession of the children and you need financial assistance from the other parent but they are not willing to help out by agreement alone. You realize you are going to have to take additional measures to get anything out of them; more specifically, you visit with an attorney and understand that it is going to take a court order.

Regardless of whether your case is a divorce or suit affecting the parent-child relationship, you will need to include a request for child support within your pleadings. This ensures that you have noticed the other parent that you are seeking this in court and it ensures that you can bring this issue up at the hearing. If your case is just beginning, this issue would be addressed at a temporary orders hearing. You and your attorney will put on evidence of the monthly net resources of the other party. How do you do that if you do not know what the other party is making? Your attorney at Guest & Gray will ensure that the party is noticed and ordered to appear with their financial records so that the judge and/or your attorney can calculate the correct amount of child support. However, if the other party ignores the court order and does not bring their financial records, typically the judge will be agitated with this and start asking the party questions on the stand about their financial information.

Once the monthly net is determined, child support is calculated based upon a percentage amount determined by the number of children involved in the suit as well as other factors. For instance, if you have one child child support would be 20% of the obligor parent’s monthly net resources. If the obligor parent has one other child that they are responsible for (remarries or has another child with another person) lowers the percentage down to 17.5% and then gets lower depending upon the number of additional children outside of your case.

You have a final family order, whether it is an order in suit affecting the parent-child relationship, final decree of divorce, etc., and you would like it modified.  You are either the parent receiving child support and you want the amount increased or you are the parent paying child support and you want it decreased.  Or, there has been a change that would require the conservatorship or visitation modified.  It is not an uncommon question and the Texas Family Code does specify particular deadlines and requirements with respect to filing a modification.

For child support, Texas Family Code Section 156.401 states that final orders can be modified if either (a) there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances for a party or the child after the order was entered; or (b) it has been three years since the order was last entered or modified AND the monthly amount either differs by 20% or $100 from the amount that it should be under the child support guidelines.  So, it has been less than three years but something has happened that would require a change in child support then you can seek a modification.  For instance, did the parent paying child support get a new job after your orders were rendered and they are now making more money?  Or, did the obligor lose their job and they are no longer making any money?  Additional instances of material and substantial change in circumstances would also be (a) the obligor parent had another child that they are financially responsible for; (b) health insurance has changed (lost or new premiums); or (c) the children are now living with the obligor parent or another person.

That brings us to modifying orders as to conservatorship and/or possession or access.   If you are seeking to modify the parent who has the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of the child in less than one year from the orders being rendered, Texas Family Code Section 156.102 governs.  If you do so, you must attach an affidavit to your pleadings and the affidavit must allege specific facts that the child’s present environment may endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair their emotional development.  Not only must these allegations be made, but you also have to prove this.  If you do not have this, you will have to wait more than one year to change who has the exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence.  If you are modifying in more than a year, your burden is a material and substantial change in circumstances of a party or the child AND it must be in the best interest of the child.  In fact, best interest of the child is the ultimate burden in every family law case.

You are a father who wants to be a good dad and support his child without breaking the bank and not being able to support yourself.  You do need financial resources in order to do this and you will probably pay guideline support. Our firm can help you.

How Much Will I Pay in Child Support?

          Some fathers fall into the trap of paying above-guideline child support.  That is, they agree to pay more than they are required either in amount of child support or they pay support and in addition to that pay for extracurricular, daycare, etc.  Texas Family Code 154.125 provides the chart on child support guidelines and it is as follows:

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