It is important to know what rights and responsibilities you might have regarding child support in the state of Washington. Child support calculations and determinations can be complex, and you may need information or guidance.
Washington’s Economic Services Administration (ESA) Division of Child Support (DCS) can inform you of your child support responsibilities. The DCS can also provide important information if you need child support.
Generally speaking, the parent that the child lives with (the “custodial parent“) is the one who is owed child support by the other parent (the “non-custodial parent“). This is because usually, the custodial parent will have more responsibilities and child-rearing costs, so courts require payment from the noncustodial parent to the custodial parent. If the child spends equal amounts of time living with each parent, the court will consider that and may reduce your child support amount.
Washington child support calculations require an analysis of many different factors. These considerations reflect a mixture of the child’s needs and the parents’ capabilities to provide for the child. Some of the factors involved in Washington child support calculations include:
As mentioned, even if the noncustodial parent spends a few days a week caring for the child, they will still be required to pay 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.
Most often, child support and child custody come up in the context of a divorce or a legal separation. If that is not your situation, you can petition for child support.
There are two methods: you can go through the court system or ask for help from DCS. To move your case along, you should be prepared to provide the most recent address of the other parent, their social security number, their current employer and pay rate, and any other pertinent financial information.
Some factors that can make the case more complicated are how difficult it can be to track down the other parent, establish paternity, or if the noncustodial parent lives in a different county or state. If the non-custodial parent is in jail or otherwise unavailable, the court will consider this in connection with their ability to make child support payments.
There are several serious consequences for not paying child support. The most common consequence is wage garnishment, where money is automatically removed from your paycheck. DCS can garnish the non-paying parent’s wages directly. It can also take support from other forms of income, such as unemployment, Social Security disability, or retirement benefits.
Other potential consequences:
The court may order wage garnishment if the paying parent has missed their child support payments. Under a garnishment order, the court orders the paying parent’s employer to take and set aside a portion of the person’s paycheck to be used for the child support payments.
The employer can transfer the payments directly to the court or transfer it to a third-party agency whose function is to manage such child support funds.
Garnishment of wages is common in cases where there have been several missed payments, and the arrears (missed back payments) are starting to build up. Wage garnishment helps ensure that the payments will be met.
A noncustodial parent has visitation rights that cannot be affected by nonpayment. Even if you are behind on child support payments, you still have the right to visit your children. If this becomes a problem, you can file a petition asking the court to enforce the visitation schedule.
However, there is a difference between being behind on child support payments and refusing to pay child support. Not paying child support hurts your child. Refusing to pay child support to spite the other parent will ultimately impact your rights to visitation since it reflects on your willingness to provide for your child.
If you believe you should not be paying child support, you can legally have it terminated. You should never decide on your own to just stop payments. Doing so can be risky and lead to serious consequences.
The easiest way to stop paying child support is to reach an agreement with the other parent. If this happens, the agreement needs to be formally approved by the court so 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.
The most common reason for ending 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 became pregnant by another man. You can ask for a paternity test if you think you are not the father.
Child support automatically ends if any of the following occurs:
You should contact a Washington child support lawyer if you are facing complications with your child support order. Having a lawyer represent you in child support proceedings can be immensely helpful. Your attorney can provide advice and legal guidance as your case passes the court system.
One of the key advantages of using an attorney for child support issues is that the attorney will not get caught up in emotional issues surrounding the issue. The other parent might want to fight with you but might be willing to concede some points if they are dealing with your lawyer instead.
16 people have successfully posted their cases
