Pamela Wright, ESQ.

3 Things to Consider Before Your Child Support Court Hearing

Here's 3 things to consider before your child support court hearing:

 

1. Do you have an updated Income & Expense Declaration on file with the court?

 

2. Do you have your paycheck stubs for the last two months on file with the court? If you own a business do you have a profit and loss statement from the last two years or a Schedule C from your last federal tax return on file with the court?

 

3. Do you have your State and Federal income tax returns and all loan applications (whether or not the loan was granted) for the last two years?  

 

In California, it's important to have financial documentation to support your position in a child support case.  The above mentioned documents are used to prove how much a party earns or how much the party's business earns.  It is important that you have this information for yourself and obtain this information from the other party in your case.  Child support is about the numbers in California... the financial numbers and the child custody timeshare percentage.

1 Thing You Need to Know About Spousal & Child Support Before You File for Divorce

Here's 1 Thing You Need to Know About Spousal & Child Support Before You File for Divorce:

1.  How are YOU going to provide for yourself and your children financially? 

Many women going through a divorce expect their financial needs to be met by spousal and child support after the divorce is filed.  But what they don't know is that spousal and child support is not immediately awarded after the initial divorce papers are filed.  Further, spousal and child support is typically not enough to maintain their current standard of living. 

In California, a party seeking spousal and child support must file a request for it with the court AFTER the initial divorce papers are filed.  This means you need to be prepared to provide for your financial needs until the court orders spousal and child support and your spouse begins to pay it.  Your spouse may provide you with  voluntary spousal and child support before the court orders it but if he doesn't then you need to be prepared.  If the court hearing for spousal and child support is set 4-12 weeks out from the date you file your initial divorce papers then you must be prepared to meet your financial needs. 

It is a good idea to start saving for your financial needs prior to filing for divorce so you will be prepared.

Take care,

Pam