Oklahoma divorce information

If you recently lost your job and are currently unemployed, it is understandable if you can’t pay child support right now. The Oklahoma family courts are not unreasonable, however if you just stop paying your child support payments without notifying the courts or the other parent, you could suffer serious consequences. 

First Step If You Can’t Pay Child Support 

If you discuss the situation with your spouse and tell them you can’t pay child support right now, and they agree to a lower payments, make sure it is in writing. This is where a family law attorney is absolutely necessary in order to protect your rights and funds.

Contact a family law attorney right away and make sure you have a petition to modifying child support filed immediately. A verbal agreement is not legally binding, which is why filing with the court is necessary.

Verbal Agreement With Your Spouse If You Can’t Pay Child Support

Although discussing this with the other parent and coming to an agreement may seem like the best avenue, this is not recognized legally. What typically ends up happening is the other parent agrees, and a few weeks later – when they start to feel the financial strain of not having those support payments – they either demand you pay everything owed or they take you to court.

If you can’t pay child support and have been withholding it or paying less than normal and are taken to court, you can be found guilty of contempt of court. This means that you will pay fines and an order will be issued for you to pay all the back child support, referred to as ‘arrears,’ and may be responsible for the other parent’s attorney fees.

This is why, if you can’t pay child support, you must retain a family law attorney immediately and file a petition for modification of support.

Modification of Child Support

Your family law attorney will explain that if you can’t pay child support because you lost your job, you may be entitled to a child support modification. The qualifications to request a child support modification include:

• request does not involve medical support
• if the support was not calculated correctly using the Child Support Guidelines
• the amount of support will change by twenty percent or more using the Child Support Guidelines
• if a significant change in circumstances is found

The most common topic used is a change in circumstance when a support order is modified. The most common change in circumstances includes:

• the child is no longer qualifies for support, due to no longer being a minor
• medical disability of either parent
• childcare or medical care changes
• significant change in the parents income or employment

Initial Consultation with a Tulsa Family Law Attorney

It is clear from the above information that if you temporarily lose your job, the court system will work with you if you can’t pay child support, and your attorney will advocate strongly on your behalf. As long as you follow the correct procedures you will be able to adequately protect yourself and your finances.

Hiring a knowledgeable and compassionate family law attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well represented.

Contact an experienced Tulsa divorce attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma child support modification process.

For a low-cost confidential consultation, call now 918-924-5526.

Battling for child custody is one of the hardest situations you and your children will have to go through in your lives. However, there are options that allow the process to be easier and more successful. 

Hire Qualified Child Custody Attorney

The first, and most important step you must take is to hire a child custody attorney. What takes place in a courtroom and superior knowledge is not common to those not in the field of family law. You should not expect yourself to know how to litigate your child custody case on your own.

Hiring the right child custody attorney is important, especially since custody can be a highly emotional and difficult subject. Being able to effectively communicate, work together, and trust your child custody attorney is essential in presenting a successful case.

Emphasize Best Interest Standard

Assist your child custody attorney the best you can by providing direct evidence or facts that shows the best interest of your child is accomplished by awarding you custody.

The best interest standard is what a judge will use when determining how child custody is divided. Being prepared with evidence to give to your attorney that speaks directly to your child’s best interest helps to present a winning case for child custody.

Biased and Unbiased Opinions

When considering the best interest standard, your Tulsa family lawyer may emphasize that your point of view may not be the same as a judge’s point of view. In fact, a judge may believe a custody request is unreasonable or vindictive.

If the judge makes this conclusion, chances are they do not think your case is in your child’s best interest. You need to ask yourself if it is possible if joint custody is actually in the best interest of your child.

Once you consider your point of view, your child custody attorney will help you present your case from an unbiased and neutral point of view. This approach reassures your family court judge that you can consider positions outside of your own and can be reflective and reasonable.

Support Your Assertions

Saying your ex-spouse is a bad person is one thing, but being able to provide evidence to that effect is different. Make sure that you not only have evidence of your ex-spouses misdeeds, but also evidence showing your compliance with the child custody process.

For example, make all custody exchanges and visitation times, create and follow the parenting plan even if the other parent is not, and continue to stay as involved in your child’s life as possible.

Evidence showing your strong bond and positive relationship is as important as evidence that shows the other parent being absent, negatively effecting your child’s emotional development, or not supporting communication with the other parent during their custody time.

Initial Consultation with a Tulsa Child Custody Attorney

Going through a child custody battle can be very stressful, hiring an experienced child custody attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well represented.

Keeping the above tips in mind will help you not only add to the success of your case, but also help you be a helpful client to your child custody attorney.

Contact an experienced Tulsa child custody attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma relocation process.

For a low-cost confidential consultation, call now: 918-924-5526.

 

If you are accused of child physical abuse or sexual abuse in Oklahoma, the first step is to read this article. Then, start interviewing child custody attorneys as soon as possible. Handling a case like this quickly and aggressively allows your child custody attorney to effectively defend you and accomplish a successful win on your behalf. 

Hire an Experienced Child Custody Attorney

Contacting a child support attorney right away will help you get ahead of the accusations and show the court you are actively pursuing the case.

When interviewing attorneys, not only are you looking for an experienced child custody attorney, but also an attorney that has handled a false accusation of child abuse case. These types of cases can become emotional and challenging to those involved.

Having a skilled child custody attorney helps to minimize any additional drama or chaos your ex-spouse my try to create. Your attorney is their to represent you and your interests; you are not required to have any contact with the accusing parent once you have an attorney.

Know Your Rights

There are rights that the accused parent retains even after the accusation. Your child support attorney has the right, on your behalf, to question the motives and reasons the other parent may have that led to the child abuse accusation.

For example, a common defense is stating that the accusation was made in bad faith because the accusing parent knew or should have known the accusation to be false. In addition, the accusing parent cannot state abuse by the other parent if the intent is to interfere in the parent-child relationship.

You child custody attorney also has the right to:

• investigate the false accusation,
• request depositions of the other parent and any witnesses,
• request the court order a private custody evaluation,
• request a court appointed child custody investigator, and
• investigate and review files from child protective services.

Consequences of False Accusations of Child Abuse

If a parent falsely accuses the other parent of child sexual or physical abuse, the court does not usually look the other way. If the court determines that a parent falsely accuses the other parent with the intent to interfere, the accusing parent may get supervised visitation or visitation time decreased.

Many times, parents that are continuously being accused of child abuse usually find that a decrease in custody time, or the removal of legal and physical custody, is the only way to stop the other parent’s false accusations.

Custody is the main factor affected because a court deems a parent who puts their child through the process of a potential physical or sexual abuse case is not acting in the best interest of the child. The examinations and possible testifying of the child for a false abuse case can even be considered emotional or psychological abuse. This is why the court finds it necessary to restrict the falsely accusing parent’s visitation.

Initial Consultation with a Tulsa Child Custody Attorney

Going through a child custody battle and being falsely accused of child abuse can be very stressful, especially because your visitation and custody are at risk.

Hiring an experienced child custody attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well represented.

Contact an experienced Tulsa divorce attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma relocation process.

For a low-cost confidential consultation, call now: 918-924-5526.

 

Although this topic was not very popular 10, 20 or 30 years ago, more and more family law attorneys are experiencing a differing of opinion when it comes to children’s schooling between ex-spouses. 

It is important to begin by defining a few terms that will help you understand how this article applies to you.

Sole physical custody refers to where the child lives most of the time with the custodial parent, and the other parent has visitation rights (called the non-custodial parent).

Legal custody refers to one parent or both parents, making the important decisions in their child’s life. For example, joint legal custody means both parents must agree on where the child goes to school, religious practices, medical visits, etc. The policy and preference of the state is to allow parents to continue to work together on decisions concerning their children even after divorce.

It is very possible for there to be one parent that has visitation rights but retains joint legal custody. It is equally possible for one parent to have legal and physical custody. It’s important to consult your divorce attorney or child custody attorney to verify your rights.

If you and your spouse are unable to come to an agreement, a judge must review the case and make an order.

Do Your Research

If you are requesting a change in schools, you must do as much research as you can on the new school you are proposing. For your child’s current school and proposed school, find out the different ratings, the student teacher ratio, extracurriculars that each school offers, and anything else that you are able to compare and illustrate to the judge why this new school is in the best interest of your child.

Distance

This is probably one of the more important factors. You will want to track the time and miles from each parent’s home to each school.

One of the factors judges use when making a school choice decision is the amount of time the child will have to spend commuting, as opposed to spending quality time with their parents, working on homework, or participating in healthy activities.

Your child custody attorney will tell you that judges tend to prefer as little commuting time as possible. However, this is not to say it is the only factor, and certainly if the other factors we discuss weight in the new schools favor, a judge may consider this factor less.

Good Faith Reason

Not surprisingly, the reason for the request to move schools should not be asked in bad faith. If a parent decides to move farther away because “they felt like it” and requests the child go to the school nearest their new house, odds are the judge isn’t going for that.

Many times, the school disagreement is between a parent that wants their child to attend a private school, and the other parent wants the child to attend a public school.

Judges do not automatically assume a private school is better than a public school. They will look at the whole picture, including each parent’s ability to pay for a private school, and decide based on that.

Initial Consultation with a Tulsa Child Custody Attorney

Having a child custody attorney will help you gather the correct documents, emphasize points that judges are likely to consider, and walk you through step-by-step so you feel prepared the day of your hearing.

Hiring an experienced child custody attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well represented.

Contact an experienced Tulsa divorce attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma relocation process.

For a low-cost confidential consultation, call now: 918-924-5526.

 

After a divorce or child custody order, one parent is deemed the custodial parent, and the other the non-custodial parent. The non-custodial parent must pay child support to the other parent if ordered to do so. 

Not paying child support obligations can have a huge impact on your life and severe consequences. If your spouse is not paying child support or you are ordered to court because you aren’t paying child support, it is a very wise and necessary decision to hire a child support attorney, so your rights and your case are protected.

Consequences

There are several well known consequences for failure to pay child support in Oklahoma. These include:

• Wage garnishment – an order to your employer to withhold a certain amount of income from your paycheck
• Federal and state taxes may be seized and garnished
• Liens can be placed on your home or property you own
• You may be added to Oklahoma’s Child Support Enforcement database and most wanted list
• Various licenses suspended, including business licenses, driver’s licenses, professional licenses, etc.
• Registration on your car, boat, motorcycle, airplane, etc., can be suspended
• Passport denied or not issued
• Found guilty of contempt of court and serve jail time

Response to Non-Payment

Oklahoma has a program called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which provides aid in the amount of approximately 21 million dollars every year. About 80 percent of the families receiving this aid are also families not receiving court-ordered child support.

A federal act was put in place to aid families in seeking recovery of child support if the other parent tried to flee the state of Oklahoma called the Uniform Reciprocal Child Support Enforcement Act. This program assists state agencies in finding and prosecuting absent parents.

In addition, the Department of Human Services (DHS) assists families where one parent is not fulfilling their child support obligation. In Tulsa, there is a separate office located in the city where the primary focus is to help families get the child support they deserve. The office is made up of attorneys that prosecute the parent failing to pay support.

Failing to pay child support is also a criminal offense. Even though the state has attorneys who prosecute parents not paying child support, it is very important to have your own attorney in the family court field.

It is equally important to have a child support attorney if you have failed to keep up on your child support payments. Your attorney is more skilled at navigating the family court system and working with other family law attorneys and judges.

Unfortunately, if a family is not already registered with the AFDC, they have a harder time accessing assistance. The AFDC contracts with the DHS when child support is not paid. There is essentially a direct line to prosecutors this way. It is helpful for families to register with this organization for a more efficient and quick response.

Initial Consultation with a Tulsa Child Custody Attorney

It is vital to remember three important additional points:

1. If your spouse stops paying child support, you cannot withhold your child from court-ordered visitation with the other parent. Although both orders appear in the same divorce decree, they are not one in the same. You must go back to court to modify visitation to change it.
2. Once you and your attorney appear in court to handle the non-payment of child support, the offending spouse rarely doesn’t have to pay back child support, this is almost always part of the new child support order.
3. The spouse paying (or, not paying in this instance) does not get to decide how child support funds are spent.

Hiring an experienced child support attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well represented whether you are behind on paying child support, or you are not receiving your court ordered support.

Contact an experienced Tulsa divorce attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma relocation process.

For a low-cost confidential consultation, call now: 918-924-5526.