Keeping The Peace About Child Support

In the best-case scenario, co-parenting with your ex-spouse can make you more emotionally mature and improve your relationships with your children, your ex-spouse, and others in your life. Some divorced parents say that, if they had learned the conflict management skills they know now when they first became parents, they would have been able to get along with their spouses and in-laws well enough to prevent divorce. Some people find that their relationship with their co-parent improves almost as soon as they get divorced. You have always respected and will always respect and admire your ex-spouse, but her clean freak tendencies drive you crazy, and you can’t stand spending the holidays with her mother; these are the problems that divorce can solve. Couples without minor children can often remain friends after divorce because they can agree to disagree about money; after divorce, your money is yours, and your ex’s money is your ex’s. If you have minor children with your ex-spouse, you must divide financial responsibility for them according to the state’s child support guidelines, whether you like it or not. If child support is a sore spot in your co-parenting relationship with your ex-spouse, contact a Birmingham child support lawyer.

Keep Track of How You Spend the Child Support Money in Case Your Ex Accuses You of Mishandling It

A favorite complaint of divorced parents who pay child support is that their ex allegedly buys the children unnecessary things or spends the money on expenses unrelated to the children. Your ex might even threaten to petition the court to reduce his child support obligations because you have inflated the children’s expenses. Your best defense against this argument is to prove how you spend the money by making a spreadsheet or highlighting the relevant items on your bank statements. You can show that you spent the money on sports participation and clothes for your children, plus groceries and gasoline. Everyone knows that it is difficult to itemize grocery bills and transportation expenses among family members. If your ex protests that your children only ate 60 percent of the Froot Loops his child support check paid for while your stepchildren ate the other 40 percent, the court will immediately notice what a stingy, petty ex you have.

Be Honest With Your Ex-Spouse About Your Financial Hardships

Most nonpayment of child support is not due to stubbornness, but rather due to genuine financial hardships. If you cannot pay your court-ordered child support amount as you have been doing, you should tell your ex about why you cannot pay it, whether it is for a work-related reason like the unpredictability of gig economy income, or a family reason such as the illness of one of your parents. You can make the change official by petitioning the court to reduce your child support amount.

Contact Peeples Law About the Financial Aspects of Co-Parenting

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you cope with the emotional stress of paying child support or depending on a child support check from your ex-spouse.  Contact Peeples Law in Birmingham, Alabama today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

divorcedgirlsmiling.com/why-he-cant-stand-giving-you-that-child-support-check-every-month/