Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Child support

You need to get a certified copy of the Final decree of Divorce that has been signed by a Judge.

In that document it will tell you the date the child support payments were to begin and where to make the payments.

If you are ordered to pay through the child support collection system, I strongly advise you to do so.

Horror story: One client paid his ex-wife directly each month for 5 years. He never missed a payment. She took him back to court on contempt charges for not paying his child support for 5 years. The Judge held that he was in contempt of court since all the payments he had made directly to his wife were "gifts" and since he did not pay through the proper system (as she had ordered him to do in the Final decree of Divorce) he still owed his ex-wife 5 years of child support payments.

Re: Child support

Read the decree. Of course, a hungry child does not care what the decree says, he (or she) simply wants to be fed and clothed and have lights on at night and a roof over the head....

To answer your question, child support is typically ordered to start after the judge signs the final decree. If there is child support as part of temporary orders, it will normally start immediately after the temporary orders hearing and then be continued after that in the final decree.

To more specifically answer your question, first read the decree and if the decree does not state a starting date, start March First.

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