Posted by Mary E. Ramos | Child Support
Know Your Rights Regarding Child Support
The laws about retroactive child support in Texas allow courts to mandate payment for past periods where no support was provided. If your child lives with you and you are a single parent, but the other parent hasn’t been providing any support for your child, Texas Courts may order what is known as ‘retroactive child support’. In addition to requiring a parent to pay child support in the future, a parent may be ordered to pay back child support for previous times when that parent was not helping to support the child.
For a court to order retroactive child support in Texas, the court must first find that no previous order regarding child support was in place or that the previous order was terminated prior to the time frame for which back child support is requested. If someone is ordered to pay child support and fails to do so, those missed payments are known as arrears, not retroactive child support, and a different process is in place for collecting back payments.
If no child support order is in place, the judge can determine whether retroactive child support is in the child’s best interest. It is up to the judge to decide based on each case’s specific facts. However, judges often consider the type of help and support given by the non-possessory parent when deciding on retroactive child support in Texas. If the court finds that the parent has been providing some support, the judge may decide that retroactive child support is unnecessary.
Determining The Retroactive Payment Amount
If a judge decides to order retroactive child support in Texas, the amount of the retroactive child support payment will be calculated using the same guidelines used to determine child support payments going forward.
The Court will look at the net monthly income of the person ordered to pay child support (the obligor) and order the obligor to pay a certain percent of that income every month, depending on the number of children the obligor has and several other factors. The Court will then add up the number of months in which child support should have been paid to determine a total amount of retroactive child support.
How Many Years Of Payments Are Considered?
There is a presumption that the Court can only look back four years when determining the total amount of child support. However, that presumption can be rebutted in several ways. The Court can order retroactive child support in Texas for a period longer than four years if evidence shows that the obligor attempted to avoid the establishment of child support obligation even though the obligor knew (or should have known) that he was the parent.
Schedule Your Consultation
For more information regarding child support, please contact us or visit our main child support page. If you would like to request legal representation from our experienced team of family law attorneys, please contact the Ramos Law Group, PLLC, to schedule a consultation to discuss your case.
Last Updated on April 23, 2024 by Mary E. Ramos
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