When couples separate, they can sometimes have disputes about custody and child support. This is partly because figuring out what your children need and deserve can be complicated. Some many different factors and issues go into determining the ideal child support arrangement for your child or children.
Fortunately, the Child & Home Support Division of the Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS) is available to help you understand what your rights are and help you resolve your child support issues. Some common child support issues include:
- Disputes over the correct amount of child support
- Failure to provide payment on time
- Failure to provide the right payment amounts
- Difficulties in collecting missed or back payments (called “arrears”);
- Withholding visitation because of unpaid child support
- 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?
Wyoming Family Law: Who Needs to Pay Child Support?
The parent who does not have physical custody is obligated to pay child support. This parent is called the “non-custodial parent.” The other parent, called the “custodial parent,” will be the one collecting the child support payments. It works this way since the custodial parent typically has a broader range of responsibilities and expenses for the child.
Note that if the parents share joint 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.
Wyoming Family Law: How Do You Petition for Child Support?
In Wyoming, you can request child support through a request to the court or through the Child Support Program, which is administered by the Child & Home Support Division. The court can also award child support in the process of getting divorced.
Before you sit down to fill out a child support application, you should gather important information, such as the other parent’s name, address, social security number, employer information, and income information.
Child support calculations are made based on various factors, including:
- Each parent’s income level
- The child’s needs, such as school needs or medical needs
- The geographic location of each parent and the costs of living in those areas
- Previous history of payments between the parties.
If you do not know the other parent’s current location or any other relevant information, then be prepared for the process to take some time. Try to collect as much information as you can. If you cannot get the other parent to contribute the required information, give it your best guess.
Wyoming Family Law: What If I Do Not Want to Pay Child Support?
Not paying child support can have serious consequences. These can include:
- Garnishing your bank account
- Taking your tax refund
- Taking your lottery winnings
- Taking any lawsuit settlements
- Placing a lien on your property
- Selling your personal property such as cars.
- Taking away your driver’s license or professional licenses
- Taking away your passport
Credit scores can also be lowered because the failure to pay will be reported to credit agencies.
In some cases, the parent’s employer may be authorized to transfer money directly from the person’s paycheck and divert it directly towards support payments, a process known as “wage garnishment.”
In some instances, the person may be found in contempt of court and may face criminal penalties such as jail time and additional criminal fines.
Wyoming Family Law: What Recourse Can the Other Parent Have If I Do Not Pay Support?
The most important thing a custodial parent can do to get child support payment is to ask the state to help enforce the child support order. Remember, the other parent can request a modification of child custody/visitation. While it is not necessarily due to a lack of child support, it can be argued that not paying child support (especially refusing to pay child support) can indicate that the child will not have stability when visiting or staying with you.
Can Nonpayment Stop My Visitation?
A noncustodial parent has visitation rights 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.
Wyoming Family Law: How Can I End Child Support?
There are legal ways to terminate child support. It is very important that you do this legally, or you can face legal and financial consequences.
Child support automatically ends if:
However, if the child is 18 and is considered to have a disability (they cannot take care of themselves because of it) or is still attending high school or a high school-like program, then child support must continue. If the child attends high school, then child support must continue until they have completed the program.
A few ways that you can end child support are:
- Taking full physical custody of the child
- Proving that you are not the biological father through a paternity test
- Getting the court to approve an agreement between you and the other parent to stop child support
- 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 became 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 you have acknowledged paternity (for example, your name is on the birth certificate), there is a period in which you can take back your acknowledgment.
Where Can I Find the Right Wyoming Family Lawyer?
Since child custody is one of those issues that can be a part of your life for many years, it is important to find the right lawyer. A Wyoming child support lawyer can fight for your rights in both a support court hearing and any mediation sessions. They will represent you in court for hearings. They will be able to explain how much child support you will be expected to pay, or how much you will receive, and explain how that amount was calculated.
Divorce and child support issues can give rise to unpleasant arguments between the parents. These arguments can get in the way of reaching an agreement. One of the most important things a lawyer can do for you is to be the one who negotiates with your spouse so that you do not have to get into messy fights.
