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Financial support for children is one of the most critical issues in family law. When parents legally separate or divorce, ensuring that children receive adequate financial support for their education, healthcare, housing, clothing, and daily needs is essential.
At Myers & Wallace, LLP, our Indiana child support attorneys understand how impactful these decisions can be. We provide skilled legal guidance to protect your child’s future and your parental rights.
In Indiana, child support is designed to ensure that children maintain a stable standard of living, even after their parents separate.
Child support is meant to help cover expenses such as:
Our team helps parents understand their obligations and rights under Indiana law, and we fight for child support arrangements that are fair and consistent with the child’s needs.
Indiana uses the Income Shares Model to calculate child support. This method factors in both parents’ incomes and the amount of time the child spends with each of them. Key factors include:
The court uses these factors to determine the amount of child support needed to meet the child’s needs while balancing the financial capacity of both parents. Our attorneys can build a compelling case for a child support calculation that’s fair, reasonable, and meets your child’s needs.
Indiana law recognizes several forms of child support that can be ordered based on a family’s unique needs:
Basic Child Support
The standard form of child support is designed to help cover the child’s daily living expenses, including housing, food, clothing, personal care, basic transportation, and general household expenses.
Medical Support
This support helps cover health insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. Courts may also require parents to share costs for adaptive devices like wheelchairs or hearing aids.
Educational Support
Educational support helps cover all school-related expenses, including school supplies, textbooks, uniforms, and fees for extracurricular programs. Courts often determine educational support based on the child’s specific educational needs and the opportunities they became accustomed to before the separation.
Special or Extraordinary Expenses
This form of support helps cover costs that fall outside standard child support. This can mean support for children with special needs or who participate in advanced educational or athletic programs, but it can also include expenses for children who must travel for visitation.
Our experienced child support attorneys can help you fight for the child support arrangement you believe is best for your family. We can also help you address the following related issues:
Modifying Child Support Orders
Court-ordered child support arrangements are legally binding, but not necessarily permanent. Life circumstances change, and when they do, child support orders may need to be modified. Common reasons for modification include:
Whether you’re seeking a modification or contesting one, our attorneys can build a compelling case for an arrangement that protects your child’s best interests and your parental rights.
Enforcement of Child Support Orders
Unfortunately, parents don’t always adhere to the terms of a child support arrangement. If the payor parent isn’t making their support payments, you can enroll for services with your county prosecutor’s Title IV-D office. Once your case becomes a Title IV-D case, the county prosecutor’s Title IV-D office will determine what the next steps should be to enforce the child support order. They might file an income withholding order, which could result in wage garnishment or intercepted tax refunds. They could also file a motion for contempt petition with the court, which could result in:
Our team can fight to protect your child’s well-being and work to hold the non-compliant parent responsible.
Child Support and Parenting Time
Child support and parenting time are closely connected. While parenting time schedules primarily focus on where the child lives and how frequently they see the other parent, they also influence support obligations.
For example, if a parent spends more time with their child, it may reduce the amount of support owed. This is largely because shared expenses during parenting time are considered when calculating support.
Our team helps parents achieve a fair and enforceable child support arrangement that reflects the parenting schedule and its associated expenses.
Relocation and Child Support
If a custodial parent wishes to relocate, child support may be affected. Indiana courts will consider whether relocation impacts the child’s financial needs or the paying parent’s ability to meet their child support obligations, and potentially modify the support arrangement accordingly.
An example of relocation impacting the child’s financial needs would be if the relocation required increased travel costs, or if the parent were moving for a higher-paying job, meaning their gross income would be increasing.
Whether you or the other parent is hoping to relocate, our team has the experience to protect your rights and fight for an arrangement that doesn’t unfairly burden you or compromise your child’s well-being.
In Indiana, child support typically continues until the child turns 19 years old, unless otherwise ordered by the court. Support may end earlier if the child becomes emancipated, and it may be extended for children with special needs or ongoing medical conditions. Our team can advise you on how to seek early termination or extension when appropriate.
Protecting your parental rights and securing appropriate financial support for your family can require the help of a skilled family law attorney. Here’s why we believe the team at Myers & Wallace, LLP, is an excellent choice for you:
Whether you’re being asked to pay child support, seeking support from the other parent, or looking to modify an existing arrangement, the team at Myers & Wallace, LLP, can help. Our skilled family law attorneys fight to protect your parental rights while advocating for your child’s best interests. Contact us today for your consultation.
Myers & Wallace, LLP helps with a wide variety of legal needs throughout Indiana. If you need assistance for a case relating to employment law, civil rights, criminal defense or personal injury call us at 260-424-0600 so we can get started on developing your personalized strategy.
