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Oftentimes, when couples know in their hearts and minds that they should divorce but don’t, the number one reason cited is the kids. What about the children? Number two is finances. We can’t afford to get divorced.
If you’re part of a high-income earning couple that’s contemplating divorce, you may be worried on both sides of the spectrum: will you receive enough child support so your children can enjoy a certain type of lifestyle without worry, or will you have to pay out so much child support that your own lifestyle will take a severe hit. Either way, a Hackensack high-income child support lawyer can help.
You are the co-parent receiving child support: If you are the custodial parent, you will most likely receive child support from the non-custodial parent. Child support will be calculated through a series of guidelines (or the agreement of the parties and/or their attorneys) based on the combined income of both parents; obviously, if one parent does not work, their income is zero. The amount then set may be tweaked at the discretion of the judge and dependent upon the needs of the child(ren), the discretionary spending of the custodial parent, and the non-custodial parent’s fluctuating income.
Working with a Hackensack high-income child support attorney, you and your attorney can guide the Court to understand how maintaining a certain lifestyle that a child is accustomed to may benefit the child in the long term. Navigating high-income child support with the right attorney is a way to protect your and your child’s lifestyle (a quality education, for instance, or that yearly vacation that provides bedrock memories). This may be even more applicable if you’ve chosen not to work, and you and your soon-to-be-ex-spouse made a tacit agreement that your time was best spent rearing your children. In cases such as this, a skilled legal professional may be vital in explaining this both to the parent who is to now pay child support and the Court.
If you are a non-custodial parent, you will most likely be ordered by the Court to pay child support. Now, you may be thinking, I want my children to continue to experience and enjoy the best— but frankly, I’m nervous about being able to afford it. Divorce often means reprioritizing and examining the daily expenditures of a family, and an experienced high-income child support lawyer in Hackensack can help you do so.
You may also need to explain to the Court, with the assistance of your attorney, the peculiarities of a certain profession and its attendant income; how, for instance, a one-time bonus may depend upon the shifting market and may not occur annually. The Court will want to take all factors into consideration when determining the amount of child support to be paid, and depending upon what is ordered, you may need— or want— to return to Court after some time to attempt to reduce child support payments if your take-home income decreases involuntarily. No one is saying you don’t want your child to continue to enjoy childhood through the fruits of your labor— but there must be fairness here.
No matter which side of the child support arrangement you find yourself on, you’ve accumulated a certain number of assets and rightfully become accustomed to a certain life. We want to make sure the family, post-divorce, can continue to live that life. Our motto is Move Forward— and with a Hackensack high-income child support lawyer, you can Move Forward financially secure.
Accustomed to a high-income lifestyle but nervous about child support— either way? We can help. Call, fill out the intake form, or email a dedicated Family Law paralegal to speak with a Hackensack high-income child support lawyer at O’Cathain Law Group.