Child support is a legal issue for which you usually need a lawyer. Trying to figure out how much is owed and what happens if you do not meet those requirements can be very confusing. Maine’s Office of Family Independence’s Division of Support Enforcement & Recovery (DSER) can inform you about your rights and assist you in clarifying some of the more complicated parts.
Child support cases can involve a wide range of disputes and issues. These can include:
- Disputes over payment amounts and schedules
- Issues with collecting child support payments
- Late or missed child support payments
- Using child support payments for non-authorized uses (not for the child)
- Withholding visitation if child support is not paid
- Changes that might affect child support payments, such as the birth of another child, remarrying, relocating to another place, and a loss or gain of employment
The court uses the following standard in considering any child support issue: what is in the child’s best interests?
Who Needs to Pay Child Support in Maine?
Child support is paid to the custodial parent by the noncustodial parent. The custodial parent is the one who has custody of the child most of the time; the noncustodial parent is the parent who spends less time with the child. Naturally, the custodial parent will have more responsibilities and child-rearing costs, so courts require payment from the noncustodial parent to the custodial parent.
Note that if the parties both have custody, the one who spends the most amount of time with the child is the one who receives child support. The courts are fair: if the child support payer spends 3 days a week with the child, they will not have to pay full child support. It will be adjusted to account for the payer’s expenses for caring for the child.
For example, if the mother has the child all week and the father has visitation, the child support amount might be $1,000 a month. If the mother has the child for 4 days and the father has them for 3 days, the child support amount will be reduced to $571.00 – four-sevenths of $1000.
How Can I Petition for Child Support in Maine?
If you are getting a divorce, you will include a request for child support in those papers.
If you are not getting a divorce, the first thing you have to do to get child support in Maine is get the forms from your local court. You can also find them on Maine’s child support website.
Next, both parents have to complete a Child Support Affidavit. The Affidavit is meant to give the judge a clear picture of your income and expenses. If you have a job, attach your most recent W-2 form and pay stub. When you finish the Affidavit, sign it in front of a notary or the court clerk. Give the other parent a copy, and get a copy of theirs for yourself.
In the Affidavit, you have to include your and the other parent’s financial information. If you do not have the other parent’s financial information, then you have to put down the best estimate you can.
The Affidavit includes information about:
- Your earnings and fringe benefits
- Any child support you pay for other children
- The costs of health insurance, child care costs, and any weekly medical expenses that are higher than what a parent typically has to pay
- How many children there are in your home
- Your assets and your debts
The last thing you have to do is fill out a child support worksheet or have the court magistrate fill it out. The child support worksheet compiles all of the information in your Affidavit and in your Spouse’s Affidavit, and when it is complete it tells the presumptive child care award in your specific case.
Here are the steps to take to calculate the child support that you will receive or pay:
- Look at the “Child Support Table” in the worksheet.
- Circle the amount in the Table under “Parents’ Combined Annual Income” closest to the “Combined Adjusted Gross Income.”
- In the “Number of Children” column, circle the TOTAL number of children in this case.
- Draw a line from the circled number of children down the column until it meets the circle you drew for parents’ yearly combined income.
- Circle that number and write the number you circled in the space after “amount from table” on Line 9b of the Worksheet. For example, if you have two children and a combined adjusted gross income of $18,000, use the column for 2 children. The “Parents’ Combined Annual Income” and the “Number of Children” lines will meet at $54. That is the amount of child support that will be paid, per child.
- Using this example, you would write the following on the Worksheet: Total number of children (2) multiplied by amount from the table ($ 54) = $ 108. That is the total amount of the child support that is the amount Maine presumes will be paid per week.
The judge is not bound by the table. They can increase or decrease the amount of ordered child support based on the particular facts of your case.
If you are having difficulties at any step of the way, or with any of these items or documents, a legal professional can be of assistance to you.
What If I Don’t Pay My Child Support Obligations?
Maine takes paying child support very seriously. If you do not pay child support, the state of Maine will first do a wage garnishment where DSER will directly take the child support money out of your paycheck.
Other ways the state will enforce child support:
- Garnishing your bank account
- Taking your tax refund
- Placing a lien on your property
- Selling your personal property such as cars.
- Taking away your driver’s license and/or professional licenses
- Taking away your passport
- You are at risk of going to jail for contempt of court
Can Nonpayment Stop My Visitation?
A noncustodial parent has rights to visitation that cannot be affected by nonpayment. If you have court-ordered visitation and the other parent is not allowing you to see your child because you are not paying your child support, you can return to court to ask that the visitation order be enforced. Even if you have not paid or are behind on child support payments, you still have the right to visit your children.
How Can You Stop Paying Child Support in Maine?
You should never stop paying the full child support without discussing it with a lawyer first. Otherwise, you will quite likely end up owing child support, and you can end up in the trouble mentioned above.
The easiest way to stop paying child support is to reach an agreement with the other parent. If this happens, the agreement does need to be formally approved by the court so that proper records can be kept of the changes. If there are any further violations or child support issues, the court will be informed of the current situation between the parents.
However, the most common way to stop paying child support is if the noncustodial parent shows they are not the biological parent. This typically happens when a couple is married, and the husband is the presumed father, but the wife is pregnant by another man.
You can ask for a paternity test if you think you are not the father. If you were never married but acknowledged paternity (for example, your name is on the birth certificate), you have 60 days or the date of the child support hearing, whichever day comes first, to return your acknowledgement.
If you are the father and are ordered to pay child support, and you want to lower it (for example, because your income went down), you will have to petition the court for a modification to child support.
Where Can You Find the Right Lawyer in Maine?
It is important to find the right lawyer when you are facing a child support battle. A Maine child support lawyer can help you determine your rights and responsibilities regarding child support.
Your attorney can guide you and advise you on your rights in connection with the child support arrangement.
