Aurora Child Support Lawyer

When it comes to divorce, there are a lot of difficult issues to resolve, but those issues related to your children can be some of the most difficult of all. Child support is one such issue. The laws of the State of Colorado mandate that both parents contribute financially to their children’s support throughout their childhoods and child support is the system whereby this mutual support is calculated, implemented, and enforced. If you have concerns related to child support, don’t hesitate to contact our experienced Aurora child support lawyers today.

Child Support Basics

Every divorce and child custody arrangement is unique to the family involved, but there are some basics that typically apply, and that generally guide child support determinations in the process. These include:

• Both parents typically share physical custody, but one usually becomes the primary custodial parent with whom the children live primarily, and the other is awarded a visitation schedule.
• The parent with the visitation schedule pays the primary custodial parent child support to help offset that parent’s overall cost of raising the children on a daily basis.

It Can Be Complicated

Like most things associated with divorce, the child custody component can become very complicated very quickly. While the state has standardized guidelines that are implemented across the board, there is still plenty of wiggle room left over. If you’ve come up against a roadblock regarding child support, you owe it to yourself and to your children to work closely with an experienced child support attorney.

Determining Child Support

Colorado courts are instructed to award child support that is fair to all parties involved, and these include both parents and all their shared children. In so doing, Colorado courts take a wide range of factors into consideration, including:

1. Each parent’s financial resources
2. Each parent’s financial needs
3. The standard of living to which the family – and thus the children – become accustomed before the divorce
4. The standard of living that the children would have enjoyed had their parents not divorced
5. The financial needs of the children based on any unique health and/or educational requirements

While there are standardized guidelines in place for child support, if the situation merits it, the court – in its vast discretion – can deviate from these guidelines. In fact, this isn’t uncommon.

Making the Calculation

Colorado courts implement what is known as an income shares model in the calculation of child support payments. This entails calculating the amount that you would have spent to support your shared child if you’d remained married and then splitting the amount in accordance with your and your soon-to-be ex’s respective incomes. This calculation process is based on both your adjusted gross incomes (AGI), but this AGI is very likely to be different than the one that shows up on your annual taxes (again, it’s complicated). This calculation process is a laborious process with plenty of room for ambiguity and error, and working closely with an experienced child support attorney is strongly advised.

Child Support Concerns

Child support issues are not limited to the child support you are awarded in a divorce. Instead, child support attorneys deal with myriad issues, including:

1. Disputes over those initial child support terms
2. Reduction in one’s child support obligations
3. The collection of child support payments that are in arrears
4. Child support modifications
5. Disputes related to extending child support beyond the age when children generally time out

Modifying Child Support

You may have been awarded child support when your children were quite young, but over the years, their needs might naturally change. Further, you and your children’s other parent’s finances have likely evolved in the interim. If you can demonstrate that the financial change is substantial and ongoing (not temporary) – if it would amount to a 10 percent change in your child support, for example – the court will likely consider your request for a child support modification.

Our Experienced Aurora Colorado Child Support Lawyer Can Help

Receiving the child support to which you are entitled and that you need to provide for your children in the best way that you can, you need the child support to which you are entitled. Child support concerns are serious matters, but the Aurora Child Support Lawyers at CNL Law Firm, PLLC, are committed to helping you resolve your issues as effectively and efficiently as possible. Our legal team has extensive experience helping clients like you successfully resolve their child support concerns, so please don’t hesitate to contact us online or call us at (720) 370-2171 for more information today.