Illinois and Wisconsin Family Law Attorney Zach Townsend covers a number of common questions about child support. How do I enforce child support? What is included in child support? Do I have to pay for daycare in addition to child support? What if we agreed not to go to court?
Episode Transcript
Beth Wagner Townsend (00:05)
Hello, I’m Beth Wagner Townsend with Pro Legal Care and I have a whole list of questions for you today, Zach. I’ve got a lot of real quick questions about child support that we have taken on the phones recently. It’s not gonna be quick. It’s not gonna be quick. But let’s get right into it. Can I withhold the child from visitation if the other side isn’t paying their child support?
Zach Townsend (00:14)
Excellent.
No, the question about whether you can withhold child has to do with what the court order says about parenting time, the legal rights or parental rights or what you would find in a parenting plan. And that’s all based on the best interest of the child or the children. So this is a question about their needs and their circumstances and their safety, their wellbeing.
and whether or not it would put them in a risky situation to provide parenting time or visitation. And if there’s not child support paid, that is not a basis to deny parenting time. That’s not a reason at all to deny parenting time. Judge would not be happy.
Beth Wagner Townsend (01:11)
So what about the flip side of that? Can I stop paying child support if the other side isn’t letting me see my kids?
Zach Townsend (01:18)
Similarly, no, again, these are independent inquiries, so to speak. So when you make the determination as the judge as to what the child support amount is going to be, that’s separate and apart from the schedule and the visitation and the withholding of the visitation generally has nothing to do with it. If you say, well, he didn’t pay support, so I’m not going to provide those kids.
Again, the judge would be none too happy about that because that’s not a basis. That’s not a justification. You’re not supposed to leverage the financials against the kids or the parental rights against the child support. No, they’re separate.
Beth Wagner Townsend (01:58)
What if there’s no judge involved? What if we’ve never gone to court? We just agreed on a child support amount. They’ve been paying me. I’ve been letting them see the kid every other weekend. Now what?
Zach Townsend (02:08)
Well, that’s a completely different question. And that is not just one quick question because what that means is that you have no papers, no legitimate parenting plan or like rules of the road or roadmap or structure to bring some kind of order to the chaos because without any court orders, without any parenting plan, without any written arrangement of the…
parental rights and responsibilities and the schedule and the pickup time, the drop off time and all this stuff without it being laid out. you are like in the wild, wild west, you have a clean slate, but you also don’t have any expectations. So really important that you get a parenting plan in place. So that way you could have expectations because you can’t just go off of someone’s word. And even assuming they’re not acting in bad faith, which
Don’t assume that because who’s ever heard of your ex trying to mess with you before? Nobody, right? That’s sarcasm because it’s very common, of course. So even assuming though, everyone’s acting in good faith. How’s everybody going to be on the same page when nothing’s even in writing? It’s very easy to have a misunderstanding. It’s very easy to, okay, we’ll do this on Monday. well, one person thought it was this Monday and the other person thought it was the following Monday.
or your holidays, you know, with your even years or your odd years and different things with the family. And how do you remember what happened the year ago? And is it maybe you’re confusing it with a different holiday or the prior year. So there’s all kinds of reasons where you need to be able to just take out that parenting plan, dust it off if it’s been a while and review what the rules of the road are, what the arrangements are, what the structure is, what the expectations are of both sides and what your parental rights are because
Those are largely included in the parenting plan. If there is no order in place, then it’s almost like the parties are just left to their own devices. no, there’s not a court order that requires child support to be paid. Then child support is not really enforceable. Yes, there’s a right to a financial relationship. Yes, everybody under the law expects that you’re going to have a financial relationship with your child and your child has a right.
to have a financial relationship with both parents, but if there’s nothing that has ordered the child support, then the right hasn’t been exercised and then there’s no enforcement to make sure that it happens if the person doesn’t pay child support. So there is no short answer to that question, but it’s anybody’s guess. And like I said, I consider it to be the wild west when there’s no structure or
papers that came from a court case to memorialize the rights because they really need to be for them to be used in that time of need, in that emergency time, you need to have some paperwork to produce to show that you have that legal authority for whatever it is that you’re trying to make happen.
Beth Wagner Townsend (05:02)
Just one quick question. Can they still make me pay for daycare if I’m already paying for child support? What’s included in child support?
Zach Townsend (05:09)
Short answer, yes. So what is included in child support? Child support is defined by law as providing for food, clothing, and shelter. So what that means is that there can be extracurriculars, daycare, medical expenses, educational expenses, even club sports or music lessons.
all this extra expense reimbursement, they call it. There is an opportunity for that above and beyond child support. So child support is not something that’s allowed to be audited or you can’t necessarily criticize where that money was spent or not spent because you know sometimes the child support doesn’t look like it’s spent on the kids. There’s not.
a lot of opportunity to do anything about that because there’s no second guessing where that money really went. It would be the same circumstance if the money was used for something that’s harmful for the kids, if it wasn’t child support. So that’s how it would make no difference there. So Paying for the child support is only
or I should say it’s not limited to just regular child support. So a lot of people get surprised by that because they are hit up for child support. They are put on child support and then have to and have pay half of medical expenses or half of educational expenses or even on to like driver’s ed and field trips and class trips and graduation and things that, lab fees, all kinds of stuff. Yes, yes. And yes, it’s something that you need to be worried about and something that you need to take advantage of if your
child is in need of educational expenses that maybe can’t be provided or some kind of daycare, even sometimes private school tuition can be included as well. But that’s up to the discretion of the judge and they will consider if you’re paying child support and how much, but that doesn’t constrain the court at all. Let me tell you, not at all.
There are lots of examples of requirements for paying for half of expenses well above and beyond child support. So it’s a very common thing.
Beth Wagner Townsend (07:10)
Just one quick question. I don’t want his money. Can I waive child support?
Zach Townsend (07:14)
That is a tough one. So under the law, the court is required to make a child support calculation based on the guidelines provided by law, unless there is good cause or a real good reason not to. So generally, if you go before the court, two parties go before the judge and they have an agreement. They say, judge, we both signed off on this document. A lot of times the judge is just
thrilled to just do what the two parents obviously in a better position than the judge to make decisions about the child or children. Judge signs off on it. Child support is one of the main exceptions where if both parents come before the court, here judge, we have an agreement that they’re gonna waive child support. The judge can say, why? Because that child not,
You parent A, not you parent B. That child deserves that money. That child is entitled by law to that financial relationship. And I, the judge, don’t really care about you, the parents. I care about that child and make sure that child gets what that child deserves, especially what that child deserves under law. So I’m going to reject the request to waive child support, even though both parents agree. That can happen. I’ve seen it happen.
It may not, it may. It’s going to be up to the judge at the time and whether the judge believes that there is good cause. But generally, there is a minimum child support obligation that a non-custodial parent would have to pay.
Beth Wagner Townsend (08:46)
Good to know. Just one quick question. I need child support, but I don’t want the other side to get any time with my kid. How do I do that?
Zach Townsend (08:53)
That is sort of a challenge because even though, as I said a minute ago, the question about child support is pretty much independent from the question about visitation or parenting time. They are independent inquiries and sometimes it almost feels like they’ve got blinders on when they’re dealing with each individual topic.
The short answer though is yes, you need to be worried because it’s not different courts. It’s the same court, 49 out of 50 times. It’s going to be the exact same court in front of the exact same judge, even with the same case number, because it’s the same case. So if you go in for child support, because you would like to, in your example, get child support increased or started, that is going to give
the other side, an opportunity and, they would have to make the request and usually it’s gotta be in writing, like what’s called a written motion. But oftentimes when, the, when one person is brought into court, they think to themselves, well, I’m here anyway. I have to come to court on this date and do this weird foreign thing and go before this judge that I’d never met or haven’t seen in years. And.
take off work and go do this. So I’m going to ask for my thing anyway, while I’m here, I’m going to call my motion.
Beth Wagner Townsend (10:17)
I mean, think sometimes
I think it gets into almost like a punitive thing. Well, if they’re going to put me on child support, then I’ll just take custody. I’ll just have the kid full time and they can pay me child support, even if they haven’t seen the kid in years at that point.
Zach Townsend (10:28)
Right, big time.
Right, right. And they think, okay, well, that’s a way out of it and I won’t have to pay and I’ll probably do a better job of being a parent anyway. So I’ll just go ahead and take custody. And that way I don’t, you, that’s how I’ll get rid of this child support problem. Yeah, that’s, that’s a common, unfortunately common type of situation, but I would say at least as common, if not more is if I’m going to pay money for that child, I better be able to see that child.
And so even though the law doesn’t see them as connected, the law doesn’t say, you get to see your child now that you’re paying for that child, or it’s okay that you don’t see that child because you’re not paying for that child. Law doesn’t work that way. But even still, if that’s what the human nature is, or that’s what the perspective of the parent paying child support is, then they get to ask for it. They don’t have to explain why they…
have a particular motive for it now. And the courts wouldn’t really even probably bother with that so much anyway, because, well, you know, better late than never. And who knows what the motive really is anyway. And these things where it’s almost like they won’t even fuss with it. So it could be complete and obvious retaliation, but it’s not something that is necessarily viewed that way by the judge or
viewed critically like, this person walks in like, know, he’s father of the year because he’s paying child support now and he better get every weekend or whatever. The court doesn’t see that as retaliatory and not very sensitive to the bullying that people could do through litigation. One of the ways that a lot of lawyers think about it and describe it is,
every time you bring someone to court, you have a risk of being counter sued. and so, that’s, that’s kind how I would sum that up.
Beth Wagner Townsend (12:10)
Weigh the risk of visitation getting ordered against how badly you need the child support.
Zach Townsend (12:15)
Right. And how damaging is it going to be for that, you know, to, kind of awaken that, you know, awaken that beast, if you will, that’s going to, it’s, it’s time for me to exercise my father’s rights and it’s time for me to be present and I want to make decisions. And, you know, that could be very disruptive if it’s been a very long time of absence. it’s certainly part of the calculus and it’s not a numerical.
but it’s certainly part of the calculus.
Beth Wagner Townsend (12:43)
All right. Our next question. I didn’t file a case. Why did the state file one for me?
Zach Townsend (12:49)
Good question. Generally, if the state filed a case on behalf of somebody, well, let’s get this straight. It’s on behalf of the state first. So they don’t represent the person who’s receiving child support, although it certainly feels that way. They represent the state of Illinois because the state of Illinois maybe shouldn’t be the one that’s providing the financial support for that child. Maybe instead of that snap card,
or that link benefit, it should be the other parent providing that money every month. So they want to get the right people the help that they need and get the wrong people off of the benefit. And so that’s why the state could get involved. So when there is a benefit that’s applied for, there normally would be a portion of the application that says, you know, who is the biological
parent that’s the other parent. When they put that information down, that goes into the system and then they start their enforcement actions because if they’re not, if they’re not a family unit and they’re not living together, then there should be some financial relationship or financial support paid. like I said, generally until it’s ordered, although there are some exceptions, generally until it’s ordered, you’re not going to be, you know,
in trouble for not paying. That’s why they want to get you on child support so you can be in trouble for not paying if you don’t. The other way that it gets involved with the state bringing the action is when sometimes a person who needs child support could just ask or submit a request through the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services website to say, I’d like to request child support enforcement services.
And sometimes they’ll provide those, the state will, even when you’re not on a government benefit. So those are generally the reasons why. And as I said earlier, if the person who is receiving that child support says, no, no, I don’t want that person to have to pay, I’d rather use my link card instead, the attorney that’s representing the state of Illinois. And that would be through the office of the Illinois attorney general.
That person would say, no, no, no, it’s not our job. It’s not the state’s job to provide that financial support. It’s that other person, that other parent’s job. that’s when there are instances where the judge will over both parties’ objection, order a child support obligation. Because especially when there’s a benefits situation, when both parents say, we’re just going to skip over that, the judge will say, not so fast.
Needs to be ordered.
Beth Wagner Townsend (15:19)
Got it, got it. All right, another quick question. My kid is four. If I file my child support case now, do I get four years of back pay?
Zach Townsend (15:29)
It depends. There’s no quick answer to that question. So.
Generally, there has not been a case, let me back up. Generally, the date of the effectiveness, the effective date of a child support order would go back to the date that the child support motion was filed. So if the motion is filed on February 1st, for example, and then it’s not ordered until April 1st, then.
On April 1st, just like that, there’s two months of back payment, month of February, month of March, because it goes back to the date of the filing. So that’s the general rule. So short answer, no. However, there are certain limited exceptions where if there has not been child support ordered previously, so this is a new case, and then the child support is never been determined before, and this is the very first time that child support has been determined.
It can go back prior to the date of the filing. It’s exceptional. It’s not the norm. It’s out of the norm, but it can go back before the date of the filing, even back to the date of birth and even for the medical expenses of the mother for labor and delivery.
Beth Wagner Townsend (16:43)
wow. Okay.
Next, just one quick question. The other side keeps quitting jobs and getting paid under the table. How do I get my child support order enforced?
Zach Townsend (16:56)
Great question. That can be very much of a challenge. Depending on how much work and effort you’re willing to put into it, there might not be a good solution for you. There is this continual effort of, okay, find the person where they are working, serve them with withholding to take it out of their check. And then finally it’s in place. Okay, a couple paychecks happen and then they get a new job.
So under the law, there is an obligation that if you have to pay child support, you have to pay it whether or not it comes out of your check. So it’s nice and convenient when it comes out of the check, but the payor has to pay it voluntarily, meaning writing a check or paying online or sending it to the Illinois State Disbursement Unit. They have to do it voluntarily even when it’s not withheld from the check. So.
They are violating the requirement to pay child support even when they don’t job hop or even when they are getting paid under the table and they don’t voluntarily pay. So that gets back to the general enforcement of child support to begin with. Another part that is important to keep in mind is that there normally needs to be some kind of, in my view, personally, some kind of sizable amount.
before you start pursuing a child support enforcement. Because if that can be quickly remedied, meaning if they’re 200 or $300 behind and then that amount is paid, then you’ve spent that time, maybe you spent that money on the attorney, maybe spent that day off of work going to court to address an issue that ends up just being maybe an issue that’s going to repeat again.
If there is a very significant amount, say $5,000 or more, then we’re talking about some very serious interest. Then we’re talking about some potentially serious consequences. Then we’re talking about potentially having your license yanked, whether that’s your driver’s license or your fishing license or your realtor’s license, that can be part of the enforcement. They can take your passport. These are child support enforcement tools that could help, but The main child support enforcement tool
for individuals is to file a motion for contempt of court. So contempt of court is when there’s an order and then that order is not complied with. And the person who failed to comply has to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court, why it’s not their fault, why it’s because they were unable, not due to their unwillingness, but due to their inability. That’s what the person who’s being charged with the contempt has to explain themselves for. So.
You can go through this process and sometimes that includes fees being paid or even jail time. Usually it’s a slap on the wrist, first contempt or second, you know, once you get to being a person held in contempt several times over, then you get to some very serious consequences. Another really effective way to get child support enforced can be through the withholding of taxes.
So there can be a motion for an order, a court order that says that the person who pays child support has to not spend their tax refund, that that refund needs to be held and kept and preserved until their child support is paid or they need to just take that and turn that over to the person who has all this unpaid child support. And if they don’t, well then it’s a lot stronger of a case for contempt because they’re not able to say, I didn’t have the money.
So that’s an important part. Another effective tool to enforcing child support is if the person who pays child support can claim the taxes for the child, whether it’s every year, every other year, or if there are multiple children, maybe one child a year, if they are current on child support. Generally, if there is an opportunity to claim the child on taxes by the person who pays child support.
there should be a term included in that order or that parenting plan or that marital settlement agreement, wherever it’s included and entered as a court order that says, if you are not current, as at the end of the year, you don’t get to claim the child for taxes that year and you just lose it. So that’s a good effective way to help enforce child support too. But the fact is that some of these people, like the person you described, maybe doesn’t even file for taxes.
you’re looking at a pretty big struggle. one of things to keep in mind is that, this child support, it grows and, it’s, got a very, good interest rate, to be honest with you. it’s not something you would normally be able to get in the market if you were looking for a good investment, because it’s pretty high and it could, really, grow over time.
And it’s also not dischargeable in bankruptcy. And so you might think, okay, once things maybe settle down or once there’s not that opportunity for the person who refuses to pay child support to say,
I know the solution. I’ll just take custody and boom, motion for custody. You don’t want to risk that. The debt doesn’t go away because you don’t collect on it. It is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. And in many years from now, you could collect on it unless the child support payer dies. And even then you might have some options.
Beth Wagner Townsend (22:00)
What’s the oldest child support obligation that you’ve seen that’s still in court?
Zach Townsend (22:06)
Hmm. Well, that’s a great question. One thing that I’ll tell you is that it’s sometimes the last issue. So there are these issues about, where the child’s going to go to school. If there is an issue about the medical care, what doctor the child’s going to have, where’s the exchange, who’s going to have Christmas Eve? All that stuff eventually goes away where the child support doesn’t ever go away until
until it’s paid or really until it’s paid. So, but I’ve got a good example. I was in court recently and there was a couple who both were in their mid seventies, maybe older. So there’s a man and a woman and they’re standing up before the judge and they’re arguing over child support. And these people were divorced in
The early 70s, their children are in their 50s or early 60s. They have been going at it for 50 years on this child support issue. And there was, in this particular case, no interest when the child support was first ordered back in 1972. And…
If there were interest, it would be well in excess of $100,000 in interest. And so what the judge had to decide is whether the interest law applied, even though the child support was ordered a year before or so prior to the interest law going into effect. And it just goes to show that there’s always some kind of opportunity. And that reinforced it for me, but it…
It’s astounding because it’s not just child support. It’s all kinds of different tail end issues with retirement accounts that never get properly divided through a QDRO. With deeds that don’t ever actually get deeded like they should or something happens before like somebody passes before the deed is actually signed. The car title, the issue with even the I-Pass where they just continue to use it after the marriage or the
the issue with the red light cameras or someone using their name, because there’s this private information. So there is just almost an endless amount of issues that can creep up if there is an order of settlement agreement, whatever the document is, the judgment. If it’s not clear, not drafted in anticipation of preventing these problems in the future,
you could have problems for 50 years plus.
Beth Wagner Townsend (24:36)
All right. So that leads into my next one quick question. I pay, if we’re talking about the problems that are created by orders, I pay for what my kid needs and I want to keep this out of court. And we agreed we were going to keep this out of court, but the other side has now brought it into court. How do I get it back out of court? How do I, can I just refuse to participate? We agreed.
Zach Townsend (24:41)
Okay.
If you refuse to participate, then a default judgment will be entered against you. A default judgment is where it’s like two baseball teams that have a game in one doesn’t show up the other wins by default. And so that’s what will happen. And so some people have the misconception that they can just, you know, not show up, deal with it later. It actually didn’t go to me. It went to my mom or, you know, I’ll just say I didn’t get it.
And of course they can’t, they don’t have my check stubs. So they obviously can’t decide child support without my check stubs. So I’ll just take care of it whenever I get to it. Cause you know, whatever that paper says doesn’t apply to me until I get there and give them my side of the story. Not true, not true, not true. It does apply. It’s a major issue. You don’t get to just undo it. Your check stubs, if you don’t present them, they might just estimate, which would be against your favor.
This could be a lot of money over a lot of time, again, with the interest being very strong and with the enforcement tools that they have, the non-dischargeable nature, it’s the strongest debt that exists. It’s aside from IRS tax collection debt, it’s extremely, extremely tough. So you’re not going to get any sympathy. So don’t expect that, you just deal with it later. It’s going to be.
much worse if you have to just deal with it later. So what was the other question? Sorry.
Beth Wagner Townsend (26:20)
Okay, well, but I’m
gonna get some sympathy if I lose my job. Obviously, the child support’s not gonna keep accumulating. If I lost my job, that just pauses child support automatically, right?
Zach Townsend (26:33)
No, no, no, not at all. The child support, once it’s ordered by the court, stays in effect and it’s like a taxi cab that just continues to run. The meter continues to run until and unless there’s another court order that subsequently modifies the child support allegation, the child support stays and it just continues. So if in your example, you’re paying child support and you lose your job, you better hustle into court because
Every day that you wait, you’re under the old rate. Uh, you can’t say, I lost my job six months ago, or even I lost my job a month ago. You have to immed- again. Remember it normally goes retroactive back to the date of filing and that’s it. So if you wait six months and then you’re way in arrears, because obviously you don’t have the money to pay it. No one could expect you to pay it if you don’t have the money because you don’t have a job, but you can’t not do anything about it. You actually have to file a motion for reduction based on
the change of circumstances specifically being your reduction in income. You don’t have that job anymore or you’re unemployed or underemployed or whatever the financial change is. You can’t say, well, we need to go back to when that change happened. You only get to go back to the date of filing. So don’t sleep on your rights. Make sure that you get into court and hustle to if you need a reduction. Likewise, let’s say that your
ex the parent of the other parent of your children were not working and they get a job or they were working and then they get a really good job. You don’t get to say, that your child support, if you’re receiving it should go up or if you’re paying it should go down. You don’t get to say that it should go back to the date of that increase of that income or that promotion, because it only goes back to the date of the filing, even if it’s not fair because that person was making way better money for a long time before that.
Doesn’t matter, it goes back to the date of filing. That’s when you have to, that’s the effective date of a modification or starting of child support. Now you said something that I want to address. You said, if you pay for everything, whether you pay for everything or you pay for nothing, you can still be put on child support. So there is,
a right, almost an absolute right, for a person who’s the primary financial provider of your child to receive cash money from you on a regular basis. And then they get to decide what it’s spent on. So it doesn’t matter if you pay all the school bills. You could pay 100 % of daycare. You could pay every single doctor bill. You can pay the school bill. Yes. Formula.
Beth Wagner Townsend (29:08)
You could drop off diapers. You could drop off clothing. You bought the winter coat
this year.
Zach Townsend (29:13)
Right. None of that changes the fact that the person who the child lives with primarily has the right to get paid every week or every other week or whatever your pay period is. And if you don’t work, it’s probably going to be every other week or every month. So also a lot of people say, well, I’ll buy it if whatever they need, I’ll buy it. I’ll buy anything they need.
Doesn’t get you out of being put on child support. Another example, you could have someone who’s paying child support for, voluntarily and without a court order, okay? You could pay $10,000 a month and that doesn’t get you out of being put on child support because even if you already pay it, even if you do it and if you’re doing the right thing and you’re
providing for your kids, like, you know, you’re supposed to do. That’s not good enough because the person who has got the primary financial responsibility, you know, who has custody has the right to that cash money on a regular basis to decide what they spend it on. So, and by court order, not for you to be able to say, or the pay order to be able to say, I changed my mind or, you know, we’re skipping a month or,
you didn’t let me have visitation, so I’m not going to give you the child support. No, no, no. It’s got to be into a court order. And there isn’t really two ways about it unless you’re not the parent, unless you already have the child living with you. There’s not very many other reasons why you would not be obligated to pay a monetary amount on a regular basis to pay for child support, even if you already provide for your kids. Now one place where that would matter.
is if the judge is ordering back child support, if the judge is ordering retroactive, which is another word for back child support, then it would go back normally to the date of filing and in rare instances even way further back to birth, rare instances that could happen.
If you were paying for every diaper, if you were paying for all the daycare, if you were paying for the school, that’s reasons why the judge would say, no, we’re going to make it effective now, not back to birth, not back to the date of the filing. Because I mean, you’re already paying that every month. You’re already giving money. It just wasn’t on the books or you’re already buying all the groceries or paying for all the child’s clothes during that time. You prove it. Okay. Then
we’re not going to deal with any retroactive child support. That’s the only time where it would matter when you’re already doing it.
Beth Wagner Townsend (31:44)
Okay, so what I’m hearing overall is that the quick answer to almost every quick child support question is what does the court order say?
Zach Townsend (31:52)
That is, like a lighthouse. That’s a guiding light for, the direction of, what, what the obligations are for the both parties, what their rights are as well. and so, on that point, the court order should reflect the reality. So if there is an agreement that there is only going to be $50 a week in child support when
the court order says 100 a week in child support, then that person who is paying is way behind, $50 a week behind.
Beth Wagner Townsend (32:29)
whether it was agreed to or not.
Zach Townsend (32:31)
whether it was agreed to or not. And a lot of times, okay, if push does come to shove and you go to court, is that person gonna say, yeah, we agreed to it? Probably not. But guess what else? They could honestly say, I changed my mind. I did agree to it, but I don’t anymore. And the judge will say, all right, well.
Yep, you heard the woman she did, but she doesn’t anymore. So you will owe this arrearage now. So the court order needs to reflect the reality of the facts on the ground, what’s actually happening, especially for the money, because they could just change their mind. And because again, what if that was brought to the judge? Okay, we agreed to do 50 a week. The judge could say no.
The judge could say, this child is entitled to by law, a hundred a week. And you two could try to shortchange this child, but I, the judge, I’m not going to let that happen. I’m going to make it a hundred a week. so, even if the person says, yep, we had an agreement then and we still do, the judge could say, no, no, no, this child deserves that money. So you got to get it into the paperwork. You got to get it into the court order, especially if it’s financial, but this is a little bit of a sidebar.
But that’s true with a parenting time, schedules, a parenting plan, custody. You don’t want to have a situation where the paperwork says that parent A has custody, but the child lives with parent B because that’s not safe. That’s not stable. That’s not secure. The parent A who’s got the custody on the paperwork could turn that child’s life upside down by yanking them out or no longer allowing parent B who’s supposed to have maybe every other weekend or every weekend, whatever the paperwork says.
to have that child live with them. So that could really be rattling and jarring for a family and for a child and for a person who is a parent doing the right thing, taking on that responsibility. Okay, a lot of times two parents will say, we’re gonna have the child register for school by your address next year. So you’re doing the right thing and you’re taking on that responsibility to be the person who’s the school parent.
Beth Wagner Townsend (34:19)
Sure.
Zach Townsend (34:38)
because your address is being used. And then.
the cops are there. Cops are like, no, wrong address. That’s not what the paperwork says. I don’t care what she said before. Now everything’s changed. So you’re at risk, even if it’s a retaliation for something entirely unrelated, you can’t have the court order not reflect the reality because that’s not safe, but it’s especially true with child support.
Beth Wagner Townsend (34:58)
Okay.
All right. So what I’m hearing is, what does the court order say? If the court order doesn’t reflect reality, file quickly because that’s when you start the clock ticking and the money accruing and who owes who what. Get in there and file quickly when your circumstances change. Get in front of the judge quickly when you lose a job or have a big promotion or a demotion or your finances change because
Zach Townsend (35:10)
Mm-hmm.
Beth Wagner Townsend (35:24)
The money is accruing, the arrearage is accruing, and that debt is never gonna go away. So if you are in southern Wisconsin or northern Illinois, you want to schedule a consultation with Zach Townsend, you can do that at ProLegalCare.com. But if you’re not in Zach’s service area, what’s the advice, Zach?
Zach Townsend (35:46)
Get somebody, you need an attorney. you can’t do this on your own. As you can tell already, there are no quick questions and the quick answers are, almost, generic and have to be pigeonholed into a situation that might not be your situation. so there are pitfalls, there are, hazards or places where things could go wrong that you wouldn’t even expect. And if everybody’s on the same page, that’s great. That’s actually the opportunity to do it right. The first time.
because eventually if things go south and people aren’t on the same page anymore, then it’s a lot harder to uncover the way that it was supposed to be and the way that it was and the way that everybody acted when they thought, well, when they were doing what they believed to be in the best interest of the child at the time before something happened. you just can’t wait because it can get really bad really fast, whether it’s me or another attorney, get help.
You need an expert to help you through this. This is obviously very complicated. Not something you should try to do. It’s not a do-it-yourself project. Let me just leave it at that.
