Can You Stop Child Support if Both Parents Agree?
A divorce creates some of the most confusing and stressful situations a parent may go through, and determining child support is no exception. While some divorcing couples fight tooth-and-nail against coming to an agreement on the subject, others feel more amicable towards the issue and wish to put it behind them from the start. Even if you and your ex-spouse agree on the topic of child support, however, waiving payments is far from a simple process.
In most cases, a judge orders child support to be paid from a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent. In North Carolina, it is calculated using the appropriately titled North Carolina Child Support Guidelines. This complex list of rules takes into account parental income along with factors such as child medical, food and transportation costs. The responsible parent is usually ordered to keep paying until the child turns 18.
While these guidelines are considered the gold standard for average cases, requesting that both parents neither pay nor receive any money whatsoever means you're asking for something far outside of the ordinary. Child support is so routinely enforced to ensure that vulnerable minors can have their food, clothing, housing, and other basic needs covered. Even when both parents share custody and the child spends equal time at both residences, there will still be a certain amount of monetary support ordered by the court. This is because child support is calculated based on a parent's income rather than any individual circumstances a parent may be experiencing.
While any agreement between two divorcing spouses is undoubtedly a positive thing, getting a judge to agree to your plan can be quite difficult. To show the judge that ordering child support would actually be detrimental in your case, you must first demonstrate that the custodial parent is fully capable of providing for the child's financial needs. Once this has been established, you can show how court-ordered support would be a financial burden to the non-custodial parent. If the judge determines that ordering payments is actually harmful to the family unit, they may agree to waive child support payments altogether.
Whether you've just begun your divorce journey or you've been wading through court appointments and paperwork for months already, the stress and uncertainty that comes with custodial court proceedings can be greatly eased by a qualified lawyer. A Charlotte divorce lawyer will examine your particular case and formulate your request to waive child support in a way that the judge sees as favorable, allowing this tense topic to remain amicable between you and your ex-spouse. Contact Rech Law for a consultation and let us find out how we can move your case forward today.