Legal Question in Family Law in Oregon

ANSWER:

First, forget about asking DCS for help in decreasing your child support obligation. DCS is simply a government-operated debt collection and enforcement agency. Like any other debt collection agency, their mission is to collect as much money as they can, as quickly as possible. They are not in the business of helping debtors.

For you to look to DCS for help in lowering your child support is like looking to the Police Department for legal defense help after accused of a crime. Your interests and those of the police are diametrically opposed to one another. The police are not going to be very helpful. Same is true when you look to DCS for help with lowering your child support oblgation.

What you need to do is to hire a competent family law lawyer and file with the court a MOTION TO MODIFY the child support obligation, as allowed by ORS 107,135, That way your case will he heard by a JUDGE (rather than a DCS staff person).

See: http://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/107.135

Further,under Oregon law, each installment of child support is a "final judgment" as it falls due and cannot be retroactively changed or modified, at least not until and unless a MOTION TO MODIFY has been filed with the court and a copy thereof served on the adverse party. . So if you file you motion in January and serve the opposing party, but your motion is not heard by the court until May, the judge at the hearing in May can decrease your support obligation and apply the decrease retroactive back to January, but no earlier. So it would be smart to start the process ASAP.

LDG