Child Support Arrearages

Texas Appeals Court Upholds Child Support Modification

Published on: May 20, 2024 | by Kelly McClure

Texas family law matters are often complex. A father recently challenged a modification order changing his child support obligation after a lengthy and somewhat complicated litigation involving the child.

The mother petitioned for enforcement of child support and medical support in September 2022, asking the father be held in contempt and ordered to pay arrearages for child support and medical support, as well as attorney’s fees.

Enforcement and Modification Hearing

According to the appeals court, the parties and court treated the matter as a modification action as well as an enforcement action during the bench trial. The father had previously been ordered to pay $592 in child support and $92 in medical support monthly. It was established at trial that the mother had been receiving $834 in monthly Veterans Administration payments on behalf of the child since January 2021 because the father was a veteran. The mother also testified the father received social security disability benefits and income from business ventures. The father was not present, but was represented by counsel at trial.

Enforcement of Unpaid Obligations in Texas Divorce Decree

Published on: March 27, 2024 | by Kelly McClure

If a parent does not comply with a Texas custody or child support order, the other parent may seek enforcement of the court order and, in some cases, request the parent be held in contempt. A father recently challenged an order granting the mother’s motion to enforce the divorce decree.

When the parties divorced, one of their two children was still a minor. Pursuant to the divorce decree, the parties were required to equally share health care costs, the cost of a vehicle, and college fund for the minor child. The decree also ordered the father to pay for the minor child’s phone plan until she finished high school, and then that expense would also be split. The decree incorporated an agreement incident to divorce that required the mother and father to share the other child’s healthcare costs.

Both parties moved to enforce the decree in 2019, each seeking contempt, or clarification if the court found the decree was not sufficiently specific. The trial court’s subsequent order required the parties to communicate and exchange expense sharing exclusively through MyFamilyWizard. The court’s order also clarified that the father was required to pay full cost of the minor child’s phone.

Texas Child-Support Arrearages

Published on: July 31, 2022 | by Francesca Blackard

iStock-483611874-300x200 Failure to pay Texas child support as ordered can result in an enforcement action. If the motion for enforcement includes a request for a money judgment for arrearages, the trial court generally may not modify or reduce the amount of the arrearages. In a recent case, a mother challenged a court’s finding there was not an arrearage when the father argued he had shifted the payments from the beginning to the end of the month.

The divorce decree appointed the parents joint managing conservators of their two children with the mother having the right to designate their primary residence. The mother was required to maintain health and dental insurance for the children and the parties were to equally split the healthcare expenses not paid by insurance. The father was ordered to pay $1,122 monthly child support and $451.22 monthly medical child support through the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”). The medical child support was reimbursement for the children’s insurance premiums.

Mother Files Child-Support Enforcement

The mother moved to enforce the child support in September 2020. She sought $1,573.22 in unpaid child support and $311.21 in medical expenses. She also asked for attorney’s fees and costs. The trial court ordered the father to pay $155.83 for medical expenses but denied the mother’s other requests, finding the amount of child-support and medical-support arrearages were $0 as of the date of the hearing.

Adult Daughter Entitled to Child-Support Arrearages from Father after Mother’s Death

Published on: April 28, 2022 | by Kelly McClure

iStock-952098878-300x200 When child support goes unpaid, Texas child-support cases can sometimes go on for years after the obligation would otherwise have terminated. A Texas appeals court recently considered what happens when one parent dies before the past-due child support has been paid.

The parents had a daughter together during their marriage and divorced in 1976. The father failed to pay child support as ordered at times. The trial court found him in contempt in 1987 and ordered him to pay $200 per month in support with additional amounts for a specified time going toward the arrearages.

Adult Daughter Files Child-Support Suit After Mother’s Death

In 2010, the adult daughter filed a petition regarding the unpaid support after her mother’s death. She asked the court to render judgment for the past due child support and to make her the obligee for the arrearages.

Timeframe for Paying Texas Child-Support Arrearages

Published on: January 2, 2022 | by Francesca Blackard

iStock-952098878-300x200 When a trial court orders income withholding for Texas child-support arrearages, the amount withheld must either be sufficient to pay off the arrearages within two years, or must be an additional 20% added to the current monthly support, whichever would result in the arrearages being paid off sooner. Tex. Fam. Code § 158.003. The court may, however, extend the timeframe for paying the arrearages if it finds the two-year timeframe would cause the party, their family, or the children unreasonable hardship. Tex. Fam. Code § 158.007. A custodial aunt recently appealed an order that would allow a father to pay off child-support and medical-support arrearages he owed her over 25 to 30 years.

Aunt Awarded Child Support and Medical Support

The child’s aunt intervened in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship in 2005 and was awarded child support from the child’s father. The court found the father in contempt for failing to pay the child support and awarded the aunt a judgment for the arrearages in 2006.

The trial court ultimately appointed the aunt and the father joint managing conservators, but ordered that the child would live primarily with the aunt. Both the mother and father were ordered to pay child support to the aunt. The father was ordered to pay $160 in child support and $70 in medical support each month. The support was to begin September 1, 2006 and continue until the child’s 18^th birthday, graduation from high school, marriage, or death.

Medical Expense Reimbursement as Texas Child Support

Published on: October 31, 2021 | by Francesca Blackard

does-adultery-affect-alimony-in-idaho-1080x600-1 Children’s medical and educational expenses can often be a contentious issue in Texas child-support cases. Parents may disagree on whether treatment is needed, what providers should be used, and whether the child should be in private school. A father recently challenged an order to pay certain medical expenses, arguing the mother had not used preferred providers as required by the decree.

The final divorce decree appointed both parents joint managing conservators with the mother having the right to establish the primary residence with a geographical restriction. The mother was responsible for maintaining the children’s health insurance. The father had an expanded modified possession order and paid child support and reimbursement of insurance premiums as additional child support. Each party was responsible for 50% of additional health-care expenses.

Father Seeks Modification of Divorce Decree

The father petitioned for modification in 2018, seeking the exclusive right to establish the primary residence, as well as child support and certain exclusive decision-making authority.

Father May Challenge Amount of Arrearages in Decades-Old Texas Child Support Case

Published on: October 17, 2021 | by Kelly McClure

iStock-483611874 Sometimes Texas child-support disputes can continue well past the child’s eighteenth birthday. A Texas appeals court recently decided a case regarding back child support for children who were in their 50s.

This case dealt with a writ of income withholding and child-support liens. Pursuant to Tex. Fam. Code § § 158.301, a parent may file a notice of application of judicial writ of withholding if there is a delinquency in child support that is at least the total due for a month. The notice must include the amount of the arrearages and the amount to be withheld. Tex. Fam. Code § 158.302(1). The obligor may file a motion to stay the writ within 10 days of receiving the notice. Tex. Fam. Code § 158.307(a). The clerk of court may not deliver the judicial writ of withholding until a hearing has occurred. Tex. Fam. Code § 158.308.

According to the appeals court’s opinion, the trial court ordered the father to pay child support when the parents divorced in 1970.

Texas Appeals Court Affirms Lump Sum Disability Payment Credited to Future Child Support

Published on: July 5, 2021 | by Francesca Blackard

iStock-531351317 Texas family law considers Social Security disability benefits to be a substitute for the parent’s earnings. Pursuant to Tex. Fam. Code § 157.009, when a child receives a lump-sum payment due to the parent’s disability, the parent is entitled to a credit applied to any arrearage and interest. Additionally, when a trial court applies the child support guidelines to a parent who receives disability benefits, the court must determine how much child support would be ordered under the guidelines then subtract the value of any benefits paid to the child as a result of the parent’s disability. Tex. Fam. Code § 154.132.

The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) recently appealed a trial court order applying a lump sum disability payment as a credit to future child support. The trial court signed the parents’ divorce decree in 2016. The court ordered the father to pay $603.25 in monthly child support. He filed a petition for modification in 2018, asking the court to modify his child support obligations. The OAG intervened, stating he owed back child support and asking the court to enter judgment for the arrearages and accrued interest.

Father Argues He is Entitled to Future Credit for Disability Payment

The OAG stated in its brief that the father had started receiving Social Security Disability benefits and the children had received a lump sum benefit payment. The OAG contended that amount could only be used as a credit against the father’s arrearage and not for future child support. The father, however, asked the court to give him a credit against his future obligation.

Texas Father Entitled to Child Support Credit While Living with the Mother and Children

Published on: December 26, 2020 | by Francesca Blackard

iStock-483611874

Many couples attempt to reconcile after breaking up or divorcing. Moving back in together can effect a parent’s obligation to provide child support. If the parent who is obligated to pay child support is contributing to the support of the household, he or she may be entitled to a credit for their child-support obligation. In a recent case, a mother challenged a court’s order giving the father a credit against back child support for the period of time when they had lived together with the children.