Legal Question in Family Law in North Carolina
If you are paying child support and now I am married taking care of a family of four. Can I go to court and have them lower my child support payments?
1 Answer from Attorneys
I do not understand the question. Are you asking whether you can lower your child support payments because you have a second family? Are the children in the second family your biological children or not? The answer is yes, maybe, if they are. The NC child support guidelines say:
A parent's financial responsibility (as determined below) for his or her natural or adopted children who currently reside with the parent (other than children for whom child support is being determined in the pending action) is deducted from the parent's gross income. Use of this deduction is appropriate when a child support order is entered or modified, but may not be the sole basis for modifying an existing order.
For more on child support, go to:
https://nddhacts01.dhhs.state.nc.us/home.jsp?TargetScreen=WorkSheet.jsp
If the second family is not your adopted or biological children, then no.
My advice would be to get an attorney, but if funds are tight, then review all the information at the child support website and meet with the child support office to see if they will consider deviating from the guidelines because of changes in income of you or the first child's mother as well as the fact that you have a new family.