A child support attorney helps parents to argue for modification of child support, as well as helping parents to try to ensure they get the support they deserve. An attorney can help custodial and non-custodial parents to understand what their rights and their obligations are under the law. Child support attorneys can also represent both parents who are paying child support as well as parents who are receiving child support.
One of the most common questions which parents ask child support attorneys is what happens if you don’t see your kids? If you are not seeing your children, you may feel that you should not have to pay child support any longer.
The reality is, in most cases, you will need to continue to pay child support even if you do not see your kids or have any sort of ongoing relationship with them. However, there are some exceptions to this general rule.
If you feel it is unfair that you are being forced to pay support when not seeing your children, you should speak with a Scottsdale child support attorney as soon as possible. Your lawyer can help you to understand the law and to make an argument for a support modification.
Do You Have to Pay Child Support if You Don’t See Your Kids?
Every child is entitled to be supported by both of his or her parents. This means if you have a child, you are going to be required to pay to support the child even if you don’t want to remain involved in the child’s life. The parent who is caring for the child can petition for a support order and the court will likely grant that order.
The amount of support you have to pay will be based on parental income, the number of children, your other required financial obligations, and the time you spend with your kids. If you do not see your children at all, your support may be higher than it would be if you were spending time with the kids.
You can typically stop paying child support only if your parental rights are permanently terminated, which the court will not necessarily do just because you ask them to. Parental rights could be terminated in the case when the child is adopted, or in certain other limited situations. Outside of these situations, you probably will have to pay child support even if you actively choose not to see your kids and even if you were never in a relationship with the other parent of your children.
There is, however, one other possible exception which could apply in a very limited number of cases. This exception could exist if you have made a strong and active effort to see your children, if you can document that effort, and if the other parent has alienated your children against you so having a relationship is no longer possible.
Whether your support obligation will end in this case or not is going to depend upon what the court decides, state law, and the strength of your legal argument. For example, in a New York case, a court held that a father was absolved of his obligations to pay child support because the child refused visitation despite the father’s attempts; because the father was not kept updated on the child; and because the mother had done everything possible to keep the child away from the father. The court found that she had successfully alienated the child from the father, and he was thus no longer obliged to continue to support the child.
Whether an Arizona court would make this same ruling depends upon the strength of your arguments about how Arizona’s child support laws should apply to you. If you hope to be absolved of your support obligations because your child’s other parent has made it impossible for you to have a relationship, you will need to ensure you put together the most solid arguments possible which are supported by case law.
Getting Help from a Scottsdale Child Support Attorney
Making a request to modify or end child support is always going to be a complicated endeavor, and you need to ensure you have a knowledgeable Scottsdale child support attorney advocating for you.
An experienced attorney at Singer Pistiner, P.C. understands how Arizona’s laws work and can provide invaluable assistance in fighting to stop paying support you believe is inappropriate. To learn more about how we can help or to get advice from a legal professional who can advocate for you, give us a call today at (480) 418-7011 or contact us online.