Case Ruling: Change in Child Support Requires Court Approval

It is not often that a child support case makes it all the way to a state’s Supreme Court, but recently the New Hampshire Supreme court issued a noteworthy opinion on modification of child support obligations. While the law governing in child support differs slightly from state to state, child support works much in the same way in New Hampshire as it does here in Wisconsin.

Generally, child support payments are determined by child support guidelines established by the state. The guidelines look to a variety of factors, but they focus heavily on parental income.

The New Hampshire case involved a father of a four-year-old girl who had lost his job with a pool company. He had been paying $57 dollars per week two years ago, but a private agreement between the father and the girl’s mother lowered the amount he paid to $50 per month.

The state Division of Child Support Services sent him a bill for past due support last summer after his ex-wife applied for food stamps. The father challenged the bill, but lost in trial court. He appealed the ruling to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court ruled that the father is responsible for about $5,000 in back child support payments.

The justices ruled that a private agreement between parents had no effect on a court ordered amount of child support, because the state established child support guidelines that are designed to protect the interests of children when calculating child support payments and court orders for child support are meant to enforce those guidelines. Because child support orders come from a court of law, those orders create an obligation that cannot be altered by a private agreement between two parties. The court found that the parents in this case created a child support arrangement that did not follow the state’s guidelines.

If they had sought a modification of child support payments based on the father’s loss of income, one would likely have been granted. However, the modification would have needed to be monitored by a court that would have taken the child support guidelines into consideration. If you have a question about modifying child support payments, an experienced family law attorney can help inform you of your legal rights and options.

Source: Boston.com, “Court must approve change in child support amount,” Lynne Tuohy, 12/22/2010