Child Support

Everyone agrees that parents should support their children financially after a divorce – this is known as Child Support. But determining exactly how much and in what way can lead to lots of controversy.

In this area of the law, lawyers function much like accountants assisting taxpayers with the complexities of completing a tax return, except here we help parents (and sometimes non-parents) determine a fair, and legally defensible, amount of child support to provide for their children.

Child support includes a monthly basic support amount, but can also include extraordinary expenses for children’s health and daycare, long distance transportation and even for educational expenses beyond high school (post-secondary support). Blended families, split schedules and step-children can all make it more complicated. Failure to pay child support can lead to the loss of your driver’s license or professional license and even jail.

We have the expertise and the experience to help you with even the most complicated child support issues. We can help you set the right amount of support and we can help you to modify it when circumstances change, including when one or more of your children are interested in education beyond high school and need to know how much they can count on from their parents.

We utilize specialized software developed specifically for Washington State attorneys and updated regularly with changes in tax and child support laws, so we are always “current”. Even if the parents agree on a monthly child support amount, the court can and may refuse it if it doesn’t comply with the law or if it isn’t justified by proper verification. Furthermore, a parent who doesn’t work may have income “imputed” and support set as if they were making money when they aren’t.

Don’t be surprised, with even a 30 minute consult we can give you a good idea of what the court is likely to do given your circumstances. And if you need us to advocate for you in court, we can certainly do that as well.