Gadsden Child Support Lawyers & Attorneys

In Alabama, a non-custodial parent must continue paying child support until the child is legally considered an adult, which in the state is age 19. If you are a non-custodial parent needing to change the amount you pay because of a change in your circumstances, our Gadsden child support lawyers can help you request a modification in child support whenever a change in circumstances occurs. Child support modifications in Gadsden are governed by Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration.

Normally, courts will consider a child support modification if enough time has passed since it was initially enforced, if there was a change in the parent’s income by more than 10% or if the parent ended up paying a lot of money for a child’s medical care for some outstanding reason.  Call our Gadsden and Etowah County child support lawyer today for a consultation.

In Etowah County, our Gadsden child support lawyer should file your petition in the Family Court Division of the Etowah County Circuit Court. The Circuit Court has divisions in that handle child support in Gadsden, depending on what area of the county you live in. Your Etowah County child support lawyer should generally file the Petition to Modify Child Support in the circuit court in the county where the custodial parent lives or in the county that issued the original child support order.

The Court will consider your grounds for the request when you file and you will need to produce evidence of the change in your circumstances. Bring evidence of income changes, like pay stubs, available for your Gadsden child support attorney to show as evidence. If you had to cover a child’s expenses for something extraordinary (such as an extended hospital stay) be sure to get copies of those bills and proof that you paid them (such as a canceled check or bank statement).

After you have gathered the evidence, our child support attorneys in Etowah County will obtain a Petition to Modify Child Support (Form PS-02) and a financial affidavit (Form CS-41) to file along with documents we prepare for you. The court clerks cannot fill out the forms for you, but they can make sure you get the right form to fill out. Once your Gadsden child support attorney files the petition, a copy will be sent by the court to the child’s other parent for service of process. This can be done by certified mail or they may have a deputy sheriff deliver it in person.

A hearing will be set in court to consider the petition. Your local child support lawyer will argue your case for you to the Court and your ex-spouse will argue their case. Make sure to bring any documents that could serve as evidence to the hearing, such as pay stubs, W-2s, income tax returns, bank statements, and any extraordinary bills you may have incurred in caring for your child. In deciding whether to award a modification of child support, the court must consider whether you proved a “material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing.”

But when do modifications go into effect? If the court orders a modification, all child support payments after the date of filing the petition are subject to the revised amount. So if you lose your job, for example, it is generally advisable your Etowah County child support lawyer file your petition as soon as possible. That’s because sometimes it can take months to reach a hearing date and a ruling, but all payments after the date of filing are retroactively adjusted once the ruling is made.

Attorney’s fees for these petitions can vary from one Etowah County family law firm to another. Generally, you pay your Gadsden child support lawyer a retainer. A retainer fee is money paid in advance for services that will be rendered. It is usually paid monthly based on the attorney’s estimate of the work they will be doing for you during that time. If the child’s other parent opposes the modification, the retainer can cost more money since the case will be argued longer. When both parents agree on the modification, the retainer is fairly inexpensive, because it is an uncontested request. The more adversarial the process is, the more expensive it generally becomes. Call our Gadsden child support attorney today to file your child support petition in Etowah County, Alabama.