Can I Get My Child Support Arrears Dismissed in New Orleans?

Louisiana courts recognize that children need both parents’ emotional and financial support to help them grow and thrive. Following a divorce or custody agreement, the Louisiana legal system may establish that you pay child support to the other parent. While it is your legal responsibility to provide for your child, it can sometimes be a struggle to make ends meet at the same time. Depending on the circumstances, if you’ve fallen behind on your support obligations, there are legitimate ways to get child support arrears dismissed in New Orleans.

The New Orleans family law attorneys with The Law Office of James A. Graham, LLC, can provide you with the competent, effective, and experienced legal counsel you need in this challenging situation. We want to help you understand Louisiana’s child support system and how you may be able to get your child support arrears dismissed.

What Is Child Support?

It can be expensive to raise children. When parents separate or divorce, they maintain a legal obligation to provide for their children. Child support seeks to ensure that parents are contributing toward the financial needs of their children. For instance, children need a safe home, clothing, food, medical care, and educational opportunities. All of those things come at a cost, and so courts award child support payments from one parent to the other so that both are helping provide for such necessities.

Typically, child support payments are awarded to the domiciliary parent. The court names the parent the child lives with most of the time as the domiciliary parent. The non-domiciliary parent is the parent with visitation or less parenting time. In most cases, the non-domiciliary parent will pay child support to the domiciliary parent. These payments help finance the child’s upbringing and maintain their quality of life after a divorce. If parents cannot agree on who serves as the domiciliary parent, the court can intervene and decide based on the child’s best interests. When parents have a joint custody arrangement, one parent may still be designated the domiciliary parent.

The Department of Children & Family Services Child Support Enforcement Section oversees New Orleans’s child support system and has offices in all 64 parishes across the state. The program’s goal is to reduce the number of children who rely on state services and public assistance by empowering parents to take responsibility for their children’s support.

What Are Child Support Arrears?

Louisiana courts use a formula to help calculate how much child support a parent needs to pay to the domiciliary parent. The state’s shared income model compares the actual income of both parents against the estimated monthly cost of raising the child. The non-domiciliary parent pays a percentage of the calculated cost based on their income at the time the support agreement is established.

Sometimes circumstances change, and parents fall behind on their required child support payments, which go into arrears. Arrears are unpaid or past-due child support payments owed to the domiciliary parent. Payments in arrears do not simply go away. Instead, the unpaid support will accumulate over time. In some cases, the arrears eventually become almost impossible for a non-domiciliary parent to pay back.

Can I Get My Child Support Arrears Dismissed in New Orleans?

Technically, you can get your child support arrears dismissed in New Orleans, but the process can be challenging. Courts do not take child support obligations lightly, so the burden is placed on the parent trying to dismiss those payments. If you find yourself in the position of being unable to pay child support arrears, here are a few steps to get this process started.

Communicate with the co-parent

First, start by communicating with your co-parent about the changes in your circumstances and the difficulties you are facing keeping up with child support payments. Frank and honest discussion between amicable partners is an excellent place to begin, as the other parent can work with you to modify the agreement. Your attorney can help draft an agreement, and you can both sign and present the agreement to the Judge overseeing your child support case. However, the Judge does not have to agree to the terms.

Use a mediator if there are disagreements

Consider mediation if you and the other partner are having trouble reaching an agreement. While more structured than a discussion with your co-parent, mediation is less formal than a court hearing. In mediation, a neutral third party facilitates communication between two parties to reach mutually agreeable terms. Mediation may help you communicate with your child’s other parent about your child support situation. Sometimes, this will allow you to reach an agreement regarding back payments without the time or expense of litigation.

Take the issue to court

If your co-parent does not agree to dismiss the arrears, you must petition the court to dismiss your child support arrears. The court typically schedules a hearing, where you must present evidence of the necessity of dismissing the payments in arrears. You need to demonstrate why the child support arrangement is unfair or how your circumstances have changed enough to make you unable to keep up with current payments. Severe illness, disability, or unemployment may warrant modification or dismissal. However, a decision to dismiss child support arrears is the exception, not the rule. Given the challenge of proving your case, it’s a good idea to ask a skilled family law attorney to help you navigate the situation.

An experienced New Orleans family law attorney can also help you explore other ways to navigate your financial situation and child support obligations. If dismissing the arrears is not an option, you might be able to come up with a more realistic, modified payment plan.

Remember, Louisiana views child support payments as a legal obligation and takes overdue payments seriously. If you fall more than six months behind in your obligations, the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services can garnish wages, intercept tax refunds, and place liens on your property to recover overdue payments. The court may also have your driver’s license or other professional licenses suspended for failure to pay court-ordered child support.

Do not go up against the court system alone. Get a knowledgeable family law attorney who can outline your options for having your child support arrears dismissed.

Contact a Family Law Attorney in New Orleans Today for Help

Are you struggling under the burden of overdue child support payments? If so, turn to the compassionate legal team at The Law Office of James A. Graham for help. We will work with you to explore your options for repaying child support payments in arrears or having them dismissed altogether. Contact our office today and request a confidential legal consultation to review your options.