A Brooklyn lower child support attorney is a great opportunity to start a consultation about altering your child support payments. If significant changes have occurred in your life, you should never assume that the court will automatically reduce the amount of child support you have to pay.
Although it may seem obvious to you that a decrease in income or the loss of a job should prompt a reduction in your child support payments, this is not always the case and you cannot anticipate the court will understand your individual circumstances unless you tell them about the issue. A lower child support attorney in Brooklyn is a person who can help you put together the documentation to show to the court that you have experienced major changes in your life and that these changes should be adjusted accordingly in the child support order.
Both parties are responsible for financially supporting their children until age 21 in the state of New York. Parties are also eligible to put together their own child support arrangement although it must still meet the minimum guidelines across the Empire State.
A Brooklyn lower child support lawyer can tell you more about what you need to do in order to best protect yourself in this situation but if you have experienced changes in your life such as a dramatic decrease in income, you can request that the court look at your situation again and come up with a child support payment that is more in line with what you can afford and what is indeed fair. You might anticipate that the other party is going to push back when you request a decreased child support and this happens often. You may change child custody as well, depending on your circumstances.
However, your ability to show evidence that your circumstances have changed outside of your control, and that you are doing everything possible to fix it, may still prompt an alteration in child support. Someone who has lost their job and is actively seeking reemployment but has been unable to obtain it is eligible to lower child support, as is a person who has through no fault of their own experienced a decrease in their income at their current job. These situations are often overwhelming for the person who does not know how to proceed and who needs assistance from an attorney, but a lower child support lawyer in Brooklyn will help you navigate the complex system and show through basic evidence that you are indeed entitled to a modification. A modification does not have to be a difficult process but it does require that your lawyer showcases the right information when pulling together your materials for the court.
Thankfully, this is easily done when you have an attorney who is very familiar with this process and who has helped other people achieve it. As soon as possible after you have experienced a change in your circumstances, it's important to share these concerns directly with your lawyer. If you don't talk to an attorney, you are only allowing further time to lapse during which you are still responsible for the underlying child support payments. It is far better to set up a time to consult directly with your attorney so that you can better anticipate what is involved in requesting a decrease in child support. There is very little to lose when you need to decrease child support as it relates to setting aside time to talk to your attorney. Your attorney will be able to tell you whether or not your case meets the eligibility grounds to request decrease in child support and will help you put together the essential paperwork so that you can remain focused on what is most important in your life.