Q: I was served an order to pay child support on a child, but my child lives with me

A: If you were served with an order to pay child support, it could be a form from Child Support Services, or an order from the child support court, or it could be a document called Findings and Order After Hearing from the family law court, or it could be an Income Withholding Order, form FL-195, or something else. The type of form will determine what you do next. But the bottom line is you file papers with the court that issued the order and ask for the order to be changed. You will need to make a copy of a printed monthly calendar and mark on the calendar the days that the child has been with you since the order began. This will be your evidence as an exhibit attached to your papers to show the days the child has been with you. You must prepare your papers correctly. You can either go to the Self-Help Center or ask for an attorney to prepare papers for you. You can then either go to court on your own, or also hire the attorney to go to court with you.

When you ask a question online, like here, the answers you get are only going to be basic information, a starting point. Attorneys are trained to talk to you to find out all the important details of your story. Getting all the details is very important because it will make a big difference in the legal information given to you. It is strongly recommended that even if you get a response here on Justia, that you also talk to an attorney. Many have free first interviews. Even if you have to pay, it is worth it because you talking to a professional who is going to focus on you.

All 58 counties in California have some type of Self-Help Center. The people at the Self-Help Center help you fill out family law forms for free. They can’t do everything in family law, but they will help you with all the basics. The downside is that they don’t have a lot of time to spend with you, and often there is a line to get in to see them. The upside is that it is free. So if you have more time than money, go to the Self-Help Center for divorce, custody, visitation, paternity and domestic violence paperwork. But if you want a more thorough in-depth help, it is recommended that you see a family law attorney. Many family law attorneys have a free first interview. Some charge only $50. Some $75 or $100. It only takes a phone call to their office to find out the fee for the first interview. There is no obligation to hire an attorney to do anything after the first interview. That’s up to you. Also there is no requirement that you talk to an attorney in your area. Any family law attorney licensed in California can help you no matter where you live as long as it is in the state or your case is filed in California. The interview would be done by phone, Zoom, Skype, Facetime or some other type online method. Even if the attorney is in your area, many attorneys are only talking to people this way due to the Covid pandemic, so you couldn’t have an interview in their office anyway. Also attorneys are going to give you a more-in-depth analysis of your situation than you will get at the Self-Help Center.