Alabama Child Support Attorneys

If you are considering either raising or lowering child support in your prior case, then our Alabama child support lawyers might be able to help. When you call our office, you can get a free phone consult with our child support attorney usually the same day you call. If it is something that you feel is worth your time and money to go back to court and modify the support, then our family law attorney can file it for you and represent you at the hearing.

The general rule for altering support is that parents or custodians of a child under nineteen (19) years of age in Alabama may request a modification in child support whenever a change in circumstances occurs. Child support modifications are governed by Rule 32 of the Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration. Generally, a court will consider a modification request if a parent’s income changes by more than 10%. Other situations, like a parent paying a lot of money for a child’s medical care, can also warrant reconsidering child support amounts.

Our child support lawyer generally requires something called a retainer to file a Petition to Modify Support for you. If you and your ex-spouse agree to the changes, then our family law attorneys can sometimes do an Amended Settlement Agreement and modify the child support ordered in the prior divorce by agreement.

We are currently charging a lower flat fee to do such post divorce amendments by agreement. If you and your ex-spouse are not in agreement, and you want to alter or modify your prior child support arrangement or decree, then we will have to pay a retainer.

A retainer is an amount you pay the attorney and as that lawyer works for you they bill out of the retainer at an hourly rate. When the retainer is exhausted (the child support attorney has worked enough hours at a certain rate where the money has all been earned) then you will have to refill the retainer if you want them to continue working.

Our Birmingham, Huntsville, and Montgomery child support lawyers generally charges a retainer up front based on the expectation of work to be performed. The retainers for a Petition to Modify can be very large but if you are filing an original petition to start child support and not trying to modify an old decree, then it might be slightly less expensive. If your case is not in a county where we have an office then the retainer can be more since the Alabama child support attorney would have to drive a long way to handle your case. Give us a call for a free phone consultation with a divorce attorney to determine how much your retainer will be to handle your child support matter where you live.

You should generally file the Petition to Modify Child Support in the circuit court in the county where the custodial parent lives or in the county that issued the original child support order. First, you will want to consider your grounds for the request. For example, what has changed in your circumstances to make the court consider a change? Be sure to have evidence of income changes (such as pay stubs) available to show as evidence. If you had to cover a child’s expenses for something extraordinary (an extended hospital stay) be sure to get copies of those bills and proof that you paid them (a cancelled check or bank statement).

Once you have your evidence gathered, you can file a Petition to Modify Child Support (Form PS-02) and a financial affidavit (Form CS-41). These forms can be found online if you wish to attempt to do it all and represent yourself alone at the hearings. The court clerks cannot fill out the forms for you, but they can make sure you get the right form to fill out. If you want our child support lawyer to represent you, then call today to find out how much we charge for a retainer.

Once the petition is filed a hearing will be set to consider the request. At the hearing you can make your case to the judge about why there should or shouldn’t be a modification in the amount of child support being paid. In deciding whether to award a modification of child support, the court must consider whether you proved a “material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing.”

When you retain us, our Alabama child support attorney will go over the process with you and file your Petition to Modify or your Petition to Establish Child Support, depending on if support has already been ordered or not. Once it is filed, we will be available throughout the entire process to answer questions. Our child support and custody lawyer will attend the hearings and advocate for the changes you are wanting to the Court.

You can call and set up an appointment to meet with our attorney in any of our offices across the State of Alabama. We currently have offices in Anniston, Huntsville, Decatur, Montgomery, Prattville, Madison, Millbrook, Birmingham, and Alabaster. If you need a child support or divorce lawyer in Clanton or the surrounding areas of Gardendale, Calera, Jasper, Cullman, Tuscaloosa, Bessemer, Helena, Chelsea, Leeds, Moody, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, Talladega, or anywhere else in Central and Northern Alabama then give us a call today to either modify your Child Support or establish it, depending on your circumstances.