Q: My son now lives with me, do I still pay child support?

A: Based on what you have asked and information offered the answer is a qualified”yes”. Factors that influence the amount of child support you owe are number of biological or adopted minor children in household, medical expenses paid, daycare or childcare costs (if any), the amount of parenting time for each parent, and income of each parent. Over time, those factors can change from the circumstances in place at the time the order was oringinally entered, and consequently a change in child support due.

There are other considerations, but the factors above typically control the amount of child support one parent owes to the other. A good family law attorney should be able to give you a good estimate if you can supply the information above and tell you whether it is worth pursuing with the court. Another consideration in your case may also be the adjustment of parenting time itself in a formal court order for the gradual change in parenting that develops over a period of time, based on the child’s changed living arrangements. However, if that arrangement is informal, yet still works you may not want to upset the balance in co-parenting the child. Again, a good family law attorney can help you evaluate the pros and cons of pursuing such formal changes in a modification to your existing agreement.

A: If there is a child support court order in effect, then yes, you must continue to pay. The only way to change that is to file a motion to modify the court order, or convince the child's' other parent to sign a consent order changing it, and file the new order as part of a consent motion to modify child support. Custody will have to be changed the same way. Until a new court order is signed and entered in your case, you are legally obligated to comply with the existing order. A court has the legal authority to grant a modification to child support retroactive to the date you file your motion to modify it--this is an important concept to grasp. For instance, if your child has been living with you since August 2020, but you only file your motion to modify child support on January 1, 2021, and your modification is not granted until May 1, 2021, then the court can only grant the modification starting on January 1, 2021--you cannot change it going back to August 2020. So, the longer you wait to file for modification, the more child support payments under the existing order you will owe. Definitely use a lawyer to file the motion to modify. If you decide to reduce or terminate child support payments when you file your motion, be aware that a court may choose not to make the modification retroactive to the date of filing. In that scenario, you could end up with a judgment for past due arrears, or worse, a contempt finding for violating the order. To avoid that, at least pay the support payments into a savings account so you can immediately pay it if you do not get the modification granted or it is not made retroactive.