Now is a good time to modify your divorce agreement or court order. It turns out that the poor economy has a silver lining. I have received a number of phone calls in the last few weeks from a parent paying child support needing to modify his or her child support order because he or she was just laid off and has no idea how to maintain the current level of support.
How Modifying Your Divorce Agreement or Court Order Can Help
First off, understand that I would NEVER advocate nor represent a client who was looking to shirk his or her parental responsibility. So when I talk about modifying your divorce agreement court ordered support, I am not suggesting that this is an avenue to save a few bucks because you hate paying support to your former spouse. However, individuals are facing hard realities and significant economic setbacks. A modified support order can help you survive and prevent arrears. Additionally, as I just mentioned, this is an issue of responsibility. That weekly obligation will never go away.
Unfortunately parents who are paying support do not realize that they can modify their divorce agreement or court order for child support or alimony if there has been a material change in circumstances. And while I cannot speak for every judge in Massachusetts, as an attorney I would say that there is a fairly strong argument to be made that losing one’s job might constitute a material change in circumstances. What makes the situation unfortunate is that because parent isn’t aware of the possibility of modification or thinks that somehow by modifying the divorce agreement or child support that he or she loves or supports the children less, that parent tries — and more often than not fails — to keep paying the support figure based on full employment rather than unemployment or underemployment. And when the parent fails that is when the damage begins as he or she falls into arrears which means not only does one start to look like a “deadbeat” but the hole gets even worse as the Department of Revenue starts tacking on penalties and fees.
Do yourself and your children a favor: if you find yourself unemployed or underemployed, seek the advice of an attorney. No one benefits from you falling behind in your parents. Save the aggravation and expense of repeated complaints for contempt by being proactive and seeking a modification.
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