Child and Spousal Support Lawyer in St Louis
At the end of a relationship where children are involved, the parent with the most income often must pay the other a certain amount to help offset some of the children’s expenses. This amount can be decided amicably during mediation or by a court of law.
Child support payments are generally due on a regular basis, either weekly or monthly. When your ex-partner fails to meet the terms of the court order, you will need help to hold them accountable. This usually means filing a contempt of court charge and asking the court to order the person to resume payments.
At St Louis Family Law Group, our child support lawyer can help you organize child support payments, clarify and determine the terms of child support orders, and enforce agreements.
Our Approach in Calculating Child Support
The court is guided by Section 452.340 of the Missouri Revised Statutes in determining which parent should give the other parent financial support for the welfare of the children. A reasonable and equitable financial amount that one parent should pay to the other for the care and maintenance of a minor child is determined using Missouri Form 14 Child Support Amount Calculation Worksheet.
Child support is classified into two types. The first is a monthly payment based on each party’s income, number of children, and state of residence. The other type of child support is for large child-related expenses, which are usually split proportionally based on each person’s income. The amount you receive each month is determined by the parenting arrangements. If you have custody of your children most of the time, the other parent will pay you the amount specified in the federal Child Support Guidelines each month. If you share parenting time roughly equally, then you both pay child support.
Special and Extraordinary Expenses
Child support also covers larger and special child-related expenses. What constitutes a special and extraordinary expense is determined by the circumstances of each family. Wealthier families may incur more special and extraordinary expenses because they can contribute more to their children’s care.
These extraordinary expenses may be, but are not limited to:
- Education and tutoring
- Daycare
- Healthcare
- Extracurricular pursuits
- Post-secondary education
Our child support lawyer can assist you in understanding these guidelines and negotiating a proper and legally binding child support agreement.
Support Enforcement Services
A child support lawyer can help you seek relief through the family courts when court-ordered child support payments are not being paid as required. While you may be able to talk to your co-parent about these issues, you might be met with excuses or reasons why they cannot make payments. Since you likely depend on these payments to remain financially stable and support your children, it’s important to seek competent legal assistance as quickly as possible.
Talk to one of our experienced child support lawyers
St Louis Family Law Group understands that support payments affect your financial security and that when these payments stop, you can’t afford to wait extended periods to have them resolved. Our child support lawyer can also help when there is a material change in the circumstances of the parents that require child support payments.
As an experienced domestic relations law firm, we know the procedures necessary to get these issues addressed as quickly as possible through the family court system. We will represent your interests in court and help hold the other parent financially accountable, and push to ensure you receive the appropriate financial support.
Call us today at (314) 387-9189 or visit our contact page to schedule a free consultation.