Child support can be quite a challenging decision to come to with your spouse as well as custody of the child. If these custody circumstances change, you may want to stop paying child support payments. If you are experiencing these child support issues, you should speak to an attorney.
Stop Paying Child Support if You Become the Full Custody Holder
If primary custody of your child changes, the best thing to do would be petition the family court to terminate your order of support. If your existing order of support is a direct pay order, meaning that you’re paying your ex or the child’s mother directly, you can stop paying, but you should also file the petition in family court as well. The reason being is that even though you have a new custody order, your child support order is still in effect and you still do technically owe that money.
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If you’re paying the child support collection unit or SCU as people call it around here, they will still continue to collect that money from your paycheck or mark you in arrears for non-payment if you don’t pay, which is why the petition is necessary. The only reason why I suggest non-payment if it’s a direct pay order is that public policy prevents the support magistrate from directing the child’s mother or the other parent from returning child support monies they receive. The sooner you file your petition the better because your relief will start as of that date. Do not delay if you would like to stop paying child support.
If you would like to stop paying child support because of a change in custody, please call our experienced Saratoga family law attorneys. We are dedicated to providing fierce and dependable representation to our clients.
