When the court issued an interim or final child support order as part of your divorce, you may have felt a sense of relief. Prior to the issuance of that order, it is possible that you were receiving very little money, infrequent payments, or even no payments at all from your child(ren)’s other parent. For many people, a court order requiring them to pay child support does make them take the obligation seriously, and they make their payments as required by the order. Unfortunately, even something as serious as a court order does not ensure that all parents who have been ordered to pay child support will make their payments.

Post-judgment issues regarding child support are, unfortunately, fairly common. All across America, parents are struggling to make ends meet when they do not receive the child support payments that they are owed. Sometimes, parents are unable to get by with the financial resources that they have available, and they turn to public assistance in order to provide their children with food, health insurance, and other things that they need. In 2009, an estimate by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement indicated that American parents have failed to pay over one hundred million dollars of child support. Half of the money was owed directly to parents who should have been receiving payments, and the other half was owed to the government to pay for the public assistance which had to be given to parents who were not receiving child support that they were due.

If you are supposed to be receiving child support and you children’s other parent is not making the payments that they were ordered to make, you may wonder whether applying for public assistance is your only option. Some parents do find that they have no other option, even after making drastic changes to their family’s budget. Other parents find that they are able to get by after making some changes to their household finances. For example, some parents have found it useful to create their monthly budget using only income that they earn themselves, or with a new partner or spouse.

One thing that parents must understand regarding child support is that it is not connected to possession and access. If your children’s other parent fails to pay child support, you may be tempted to prevent them from seeing or talking to your kids. Don’t do it. The consequences for both you and your children are simply not worth it. Failing to abide by orders related to possession and access will get you into trouble with the court. Even more importantly, children have a natural desire to have strong relationships with both of their parents. Interfering with your children’s relationship with their other parent in this way, or in any other way, can complicate your relationship with them, as well as the way that they feel about themselves.

There are legal options available when parents fail to pay child support as ordered. A Texas Family Law Attorney can help you in this regard, as can the Office of Child Support Enforcement. Some of the legal avenues which are used to collect child support include placing liens on property, garnishing wages, suspending driver’s licenses and professional licenses, taking tax refunds, and even jail time. If you have questions about child support, or any other issues related to your divorce or family law case, contact attorney Alex Tyra today, to schedule your free consultation. We can be reached at (903) 753-7499, or you may visit us online to submit a convenient online contact form.