Raising children is no easy task but it can be especially difficult if you have a child with a disability. Sometimes they require supervision 24 hours a day. Physical or cognitive disabilities could mean that a child may need to rely on their parents for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, in Texas, the needs of children and adults with disabilities are recognized and parents can extend child support payments indefinitely.

Modifying Your Child Support Agreement  

Most child support ends when children turn 18 years old or graduate from high school, whichever comes last. Certain child support modifications, however, are allowed in the state of Texas, if the child is disabled and will need financial support into their adult life. For child support to be prolonged the following needs to be true:

Once you divorce or separate from your child’s other parent, you will probably want to move on and establish a relationship with someone new. Especially for younger people, remarriages and new relationships are often accompanied by new children. While your children with a second or even third partner can be a joyful and enriching part of your life, children are expensive and this is doubly true if you get divorced or separated again and must now make more than one child support payment. 

When faced with this situation, even the most generous and responsible parents will likely have fears and anxieties about being able to afford to support their children and themselves. Worries about falling behind on child support are common, especially because unpaid child support carries serious consequences. 

What Is the Maximum Child Support Amount I Have to Pay? 

No matter how many children you are paying for, Texas law limits the monthly net income for which a parent has to pay child support. As of the writing of this blog, the child support net income cap is set at $9200 a month. Any money over that does not need to be considered for child support payments unless a child’s needs justify it. 

While there are many issues that may lead to contentious discussions between divorcing spouses, one of those issues that can often lead to long-term acrimony is child support. It is not uncommon for the parent who is paying the support to resent the money they have to turn over every month to their ex-spouse. Conversely, it is also not uncommon for the parent who is receiving the support to feel the amount of child support they are receiving does not come close to meeting the actual financial needs of raising children.

Although Texas family courts use a formula to determine which parent should pay support and how much that support should be, it is still important to provide the court with any evidence that could have an impact in the amount of support obligation the court orders. The following is a brief overview of certain types of evidence that may be required. Your Frisco child support attorney can provide more details of the type of factors that could apply in your particular case.

Required Information

At the start of your child support case, and usually at every hearing during the process, you and the other parent will be required to file a financial affidavit with the court. It is imperative that all information on the affidavit is correct and true because it is submitted to the court under the penalty of perjury.