Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina

Here's my situation in a nutshell. I got a court order to pay off a certain amount of arrears on an old child support order. I have been paying it off for the past 3 months and with that amount and what my paycheck is being garnished each month, I should have that amount paid off in 3 more months. Recently, I was contacted by the child support office saying I owe a different amount (higher of course). Only problem is the child support office can't figure out the exact amount that I now owe. I have asked several times for them to show me the calculations and how they come up with the new figures. They can't show me because they don't know themselves how they came up with the new amounts which keep changing every time I speak to them. What do I do after I have paid off the court order and they are still garnishing my paycheck?


Asked on 1/07/16, 7:17 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Calculating child support is relatively simple. North Carolina follows what are known as child support guidelines, meaning you plug in income information and a few other factors (if applicable) and 'poof' out pops a child support amount. Errors occur when child support is calculated with incorrect income figures or more likely, when factors such as daycare and insurance payments aren't properly accounted for. So while the current figure may or may not be correct, it is more likely that child support enforcement knows how they came up with what ever figure is the current flavor of the month - they just simply don't feel like taking the 2 minutes necessary to break it down for you. As to the garnishment, the easiest way to stop that is to simply quit your job. However, if your are all into eating and having a place to live and don't wanna quit your job, basically it comes down to this - unless you know how to properly calculate child support and prove it in Court, your options are to either: a) go with the figures they come up with b) hire a lawyer to make sure the calculations are being done correctly, negotiate a more favorable back support payment plan with everything coming out in one reasonable monthly garnishment.

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Answered on 1/07/16, 7:58 am


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