by Chris Palmer

When child support payments are set by court order and there is a desire to either increase or decrease the amount of the payments, the person seeking the change must show that a substantial and material change in the  circumstances of either the parents or the child has occurred since the date of the child support judgment.  The process is begun by the party seeking the modification filing a Complaint for Modification and having it, along with a summons and court date, served on the defendant.  In reviewing a request to change the child support amount, the court considers the increased needs of older children, higher expenses, a child’s medical needs, the parents’ financial situation, the health and needs of the parents, the monthly living expenses of the party ordered to pay child support, the parents’ tax obligations, the respective costs of each party’s residence and any other facts and circumstances the court considers relevant.  However, the most common reason for either party seeking a change in child support amount is a change in the payor’s income.

A modification cannot relitigate issues already decided in the original decree.  Modifications must be based on facts that occurred after the court established the original child support order.  If you were not satisfied with the original order then the remedy was to ask the court to reconsider and/or appeal the decision, but there are strict time frames in which that must be done.  Also, the change in circumstances sought to be used as the basis for a change in child support amount must be unanticipated at the time of the original decree.

Lifestyle decisions cannot be used to justify a child support modification.  For example, a payor cannot purchase a new car and then claim he should pay less child support because the car loan is too expensive.  Additionally, a payor cannot have child support reduced because he or she decides to have more children.

Typically, a modification is brought because the person receiving child support discovers that the payor has received an increase in pay.  If so, a substantial increase in pay will justify a modification with the court considering the child support guidelines.  Likewise, if a payor receives a substantial decrease in pay, a downward modification may be appropriate.  However, if the payor created the decrease in pay, the situation may be a little more difficult to address because courts are traditionally reluctant to take child support away from a custodial parent simply because the payor wanted to take a lower paying job.  In those situations, the court is likely to pay close attention to the motivation behind the payor’s actions.

If a modification is sought, it is important to act quickly because a modification is generally only effective from the date of the complaint to modify (at the earliest) or the date of the court order modifying the amount.