Owing back child support brings with it a lot of baggage. Children may believe a parent is disinterested in their well-being, and a Texas court might impose penalties that range from interest on the overdue support to potential jail time. For such reasons, eliminating child support in arrears often eases a lot of tension for all involved. In Texas, there are some specific steps required to lowering and eventually eliminating back child support.
Contact the Court
If you cannot pay child support, you should contact the court in the Texas county where your child support order was issued. Do this immediately and inform the clerk of the court about your inability to pay and the reason for the hardship. According to the state's TX Access website on child support, failure to take action may lead to action against you by the court for violation of the child support order, and the penalties in Texas can include jail time and suspension of your driver's license. By contacting the court, you can begin the process of petitioning for a modification to your child support order. You must petition the Texas county court where the current court order was filed. This is true even if you have moved out of that Texas county or out of the state. In your petition, you can request a hearing to decide whether your child support should be lowered. A copy of the petition must be provided to the custodial parent along with a notice of the hearing date established by the court. The hearing must occur in the same Texas court jurisdiction.
Provide Court With Evidence
To amend your child support order in Texas, the court will require you to provide proof of your change in financial condition. According to the Texas Division of Children and Families, you will need to provide recent check stubs, unemployment registration paperwork or other documentation showing how your income has changed. You should also provide current bills. Since you have back child support due, mention this to the court and provide any documentation that might show you should not be held accountable for all or a portion of the amount. In Texas, the court could cancel all or a portion of the back child support if it finds there was an error in calculating the amount you should have paid. If you had unexpected social security taxes, federal income taxes, state of Texas income taxes, union dues or health insurance expenses for the child, provide the court with copies of these expenses. Each of these expenses can be deducted from your income before the court calculates your child support payments. These financial liabilities might affect what you should have paid in child support and could allow the court to reduce your back child support.
Pay the Arrears
In Texas, the court will not reduce back child support based only on a current financial situation. Only finances for the time you failed to pay are taken into consideration. If the court will not reduce back child support, you will remain responsible for the amount required under the old child support order, and you will remain in violation of Texas state law as it applies to following a court order and paying child support. Even if the court establishes a new child support order, you will have to pay the arrears. Ask the court to include the back child support on the new child support order. By spreading the arrears amount over several future payments, you can reduce the back child support and also avoid any negative effects of violating the previous child support order. Be sure, however, that the Texas court issuing the new order gives you credit for paying the back child support.
Obtain Custody of Child
Obtaining custody of a child in Texas can allow you to eliminate the requirement for child support payments, but the order remains in effect until a new court order is established. You must petition the court to change the child support order. Until then, you will continue to be responsible for the child support payments to the other parent. Once you have a new court order and no longer pay child support, you can begin repaying the back child support. In Texas, the change in custody does not eliminate this debt, but it will make it easier to pay now that you no longer have to make regular child support payments.
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