Child Support

Understanding the Child Support Process

Whether you need to begin receiving child support or modify the amount of child support you are already receiving or paying, we can help you get through this confusing process.  As a Texas Child Support attorney, our firm can assist you through the entire process from documentation to trial. In Texas, the courts use the child support guidelines found in the Texas Family Code to determine the amount of child support based upon the non-custodial parent's income.  The child support is based upon a percentage of the net income of the non-custodial parent.  The net income is not the amount of money that the non-custodial parent receives each pay period but a different standard is applied by the court based upon the Guideline chart.   It is difficult for a non-attorney to calculate child support as most non-lawyers want to base child support on the amount of money a person “brings home”.  This is not an accurate calculation. 

The number of children before the court and the number of other children the non-custodial parent has (i.e. not including step-children) is also a factor in determining guideline child support.  In addition to the monetary form of child support, health insurance and paying uninsured health insurance expense for children is also a form of child support which the court takes into consideration when calculating child support.  If the custodial parent carries and maintains health insurance then the non-custodial parent will be subject to reimbursing the custodial parent the monthly cost of health insurance attributable for the subject matter child.  In turn, the non-custodial is allowed some child support offset for the amount that he or she is reimbursing the custodial parent.

Although the child support guidelines are typically followed by the courts, there are other factors that can be argued to allow child support “outside of the guidelines”, which allows for child support that varies from the Texas Family Code.  Some factors include whether the child has special needs, the prior agreements of the parties for private school, use of nannies, tutors, etc. or wealth of the non-custodial parent.

If you feel that you might have a Texas Child Support issue that you need to speak to an attorney about, feel free to call us at (713) 222-8200 to set up an initial consultation. We look forward to assisting you.