Do you need an increase in your child support payments?
Inflation hit a 40-year high in 2022. The price of gas has nearly doubled, passing the $5 per gallon mark in many cities. As a result, some single parents have even started skipping meals so their children can have more food. https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/10/economy/single-parent-inflation-economy/index.html
It’s hard enough to get by as a single parent. Inflation makes things even worse. If you’ve been trying to get by on a credit card, rising interest rates can make things even more expensive. Rather than another credit card or savings withdrawal, you might need more child support from your child’s other parent.
The state of Washington has guidelines for the amount of child support each parent can be ordered to pay. https://www.courts.wa.gov/forms/?fa=forms.contribute&formID=53
If you have a child support order from a Washington court, you can ask the court to modify, or change, your child support order.
Who Can Ask the Court to Change a Child Support Order?
Either parent – mother or father, custodial or non-custodial – can ask the court to change a child support order. The parent who asks for the change, also known as filing a petition for modification, has to show a “significant change in circumstances.”
A significant, or substantial, change in circumstances isn’t a small change. A substantial change in circumstances is usually considered to be something like one parent losing a job or getting a big raise or promotion. It can also be something like a large rent increase or new medical needs for a child that didn’t exist at the time the original child support order was decided.
One example of this might be child care costs. Child care generally costs more for younger children. If a parent was ordered to pay, or split, the cost of a full day of care, the child support order could be changed if a child now only needs after-school care.
In general, the more time that has passed since the original child support order, the more likely the court might be to consider ordering more, or less, child support be paid.
What About Inflation?
Everyone is paying more for everything. Does that mean one parent should pay the other more child support?
If more than a year has gone by since the last child support order and a payment represents an undue financial burden on either the parent or the child, the court might consider changing the amount of child support. Some states, but not many, require cost-of-living adjustments to child support. Other states won’t modify child support because of inflation because both parents, and everyone else, is paying more for things.
The parent requesting the change needs to show the need. It is important to document the financial impact. For example, receipts will show expenses related to food and clothing. Bank statements and cancelled checks will show rent payments and other expenses. It will help if you can show your expenses have increased because of things you can’t control, such as inflation, not things you can, such as wanting to buy a new wardrobe.
If you are asking the court to order your co-parent to pay more child support, you might want to show the expenses are only for the children, not yourself.
Make It Official
Be wary of verbal agreements to change child support. If your ex agrees to accept less money after you are laid off, you still need to get an official modification from the court. Without it, you could be facing serious penalties, even jail time, for not paying what was ordered by the court. Your ex might be feeling generous now, but, down the road, that “verbal modification” could cost you more than you saved by not going to court.
Washington Child Support Modifications
In Washington, there are two ways to change a child support order, a motion for adjustment of child support and a petition to modify child support order. Of the two options, the motion for adjustment of child support generally takes less time and paperwork. Not everyone qualifies for that method.
Motion for Adjustment of Child Support
You can file a Motion for Adjustment of Child Support two years or more after the initial child support order if either your income or your former spouse’s income has changed.
You could file the Motion for Adjustment of Child Support order sooner, one year after the initial order, if the child turned 12. Turning 12 puts the child in a different age category.
Petition to Modify Child Support Order
A Petition to Modify the Child Support Order can be filed a year after the initial child support order. The modification petition can be filed if the payments cause severe financial hardship or if there has been a change in economic circumstances. Such a petition can also be filed if the child turned 18 but hasn’t finished high school.
Matters of child support can be complicated. We can help. Feel free to contact us to schedule a consultation.