Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

You did the right thing by filing for a modification of support. However, you are still responsible for paying on the original order of support until the court rules on your modification. In other words, the fact that you filed the modification does not "stay" the original order.

With that said, if you truly cannot afford to pay the ordered child support, the BEST thing you can do is pay EVERYTHING that you can while you are waiting on the modification to be ruled upon by the judge. Keep WRITTEN proof payment, don't pay anything in cash without a receipt, etc. The judge will want to see that you are making a good faith effort to comply with the original order.

If you do not pay the child support order, the Court has the ability to hold you in contempt of court and jail you. Of course, the irony is that if you are in jail, you cannot make any money to pay the child support and that only hurts the child. With that said, pay what you can and be prepared to show the judge that's all you can pay (do you smoke? it's an expensive habit -- stop! do you own a car? can you sell it for something cheaper? can you find new living arrangements that are cheaper? do you spend money on alcohol or drugs? . . . . do you see where I'm going with this?). Most importantly, you better be ready to show the judge that you are doing everything in your power to find a new job, even if it's not the job you want, even if it's below your education level, even if it's at odd hours, even if you have to get 2 jobs. The judge wants to know that you are doing everything in your power to pay what you owe and that it's still not enough.

The best thing you can do for yourself, of course, is to hire a family law attorney who can represent you in the modification hearing.

Best of luck.******The above is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client privilege.*******