Child Support Help
By Danielle Gilmore, J.D. | Legally reviewed by Melissa Bender, Esq. | Last reviewed June 08, 2023
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Getting an adequate child support order or enforcing or modifying existing orders. These acts are often completed with an attorney's help. You can find counsel on your own. Or you could turn to agencies for law help.
Most states provide free legal resources for low-income families. Some of these are child support lawyers, pro bono family law legal advice, and legal aid. Also, state bar associations offer legal clinics for low costs, self-help centers, and lawyer referral services. The person's income level determines whether they can use these services.
If a parent wishes to take the free legal service of a family law attorney, they must have a limited disposable income. State agencies and non-profit associations such as legal aid manage those organizations offering direct pro bono legal help or free referrals.
The following resources will help you better understand how to hire a family lawyer and interact with government agencies when dealing with child support matters. Read on for information explaining how hiring a skilled family law attorney can help you. Consider statewide free legal resources for low-income families, including child support lawyers, pro bono family law legal advice, and legal aid programs.
How Can a Child Support Lawyer Help Me?
If you're going through a divorce, seeking enforcement of a child support order, or trying to get child support payments reduced, these are when you can ensure you have a knowledgeable child support attorney at your side. A child support dispute will seriously impact you and your child now and for many years in the future.
An experienced child support attorney will look at your case with you. They can explain how the case could impact any public assistance you may get. They can also explain what you can expect at every stage in the process, identify your options, assist in filling out court forms, and provide general information. Your attorney will represent you and act to protect your legal rights and your personal interests. This is all to ensure that your case outcome is as favorable for you as possible.
Gather Information About Child Support Lawyers in Your Area
Gathering information about child support attorneys in your area starts easily enough. You begin by asking questions. Ask the people you trust and respect for leads to lawyers or leads to other people who may have attorney recommendations. Talk to your relatives, friends and neighbors, co-workers, and even your business contacts about their attorneys and attorneys who have represented people they know. Clergy and mental health professionals who provide marriage counseling or couples' crisis counseling are also good sources of information.
Child Support Services
Each state has a child support services agency or office of child support enforcement. The agency can help parents with some of the legal issues related to support obligations, such as how to get overdue child support payments. Often, you must already have a court order before they can help you. This is a reason you may need to find a private attorney. Check with the agency near you to understand how the process works in your area.
Picking an Attorney Who Specializes in Child Support and Family Law Issues
Be sure your attorney's practice area focuses on family law. This means that the lawyer is actively working on family law cases. You want advice from a lawyer who stays current with changes in the law of property, asset and debt distribution, child custody and visitation, child support, and spousal maintenance (alimony). Legal advice and legal assistance from a family law practitioner will be custom-tailored to your needs and goals. An in-depth understanding of domestic relations law results in more creative and more flexible solutions to problems as they arise. You need to target the most complex issues in your case before settling on the lawyer who could best help you.
A Child Support Lawyer Can Help
You and your child's other parent may agree on everything, such as who will get child custody, who will have what amount of parenting time, and how to handle all related child support issues reasonably. But if not, there is a chance that the judge will have to intervene to rule on these issues. When you have this type of legal problem, you want to go to a professional instead of solving it on the internet, the law library, or by using self-help resources. Experts on the subject and judges typically tell people not to represent themselves. Too much is at stake to risk making mistakes that could cost you heavily. Consider speaking with a child support lawyer in your area today.