Child Support Lawyer
Some things never change, no matter your job and no matter where you are in your life. You have to care for your children one way or another, and serving in the military is no exception – even if you’re stationed in a completely different country.
As a child support lawyer in Kansas City, KS like our friends at the Law Office of Daniel E. Stuart, P.A. can explain, a civilian divorce and a military divorce are very similar – but there are a few key differences you need to be aware of. Read on to learn more about how your service in the military will affect your child support, and see how the right lawyer can help you navigate your divorce.
Receiving or Supporting? Caring for a Child of Divorce
Your occupation in the military means you won’t have the luxury of moving closer or farther away from your spouse and your children. This can make it difficult to come to a joint custody arrangement, especially when you consider that in order for joint custody to work in the first place, you and your spouse need to live close enough to evenly share the load of raising your kids.
Because joint custody is more difficult for military families, chances are your custody arrangement will be split between two parties: The receiving parent, and the supporting parent.
As a receiving parent, you’ll have to shoulder all the responsibilities of raising your child and caring for your child’s wellbeing. This involves taking them to school and medical appointments, as well as providing food, shelter, and everything else that is required to ensure your child grows up right.
As a receiving parent, you’re in charge of raising your child, and although it’s a lot of work, it does mean you get to spend more time with your child. On the other hand, a supporting parent only gets visitation rights (scheduled visits with their child or children on certain days of the week or month), and has to make child support regular payments. It’s less work than being the receiving parent, but it means less time with your kids.
Paying Child Support while in the Military
Serving in the military doesn’t exempt you from child support. In fact, you may even have to make child support payments while the divorce is in progress. Of course, once the divorce is finalized and you’re officially the supporting parent, you’ll need to make those regular child support payments until your child is 18 – or 19, in some cases.
No matter your current situation, you have to pay child support. Failure to do so can land you in serious trouble with the court, and with your commanding officer. Your CO is actually able to punish you for failing to pay your child support (typically by assigning extra duty or reducing pay, but also by potentially reducing your rank).
If you’re the supporting parent and your spouse, the receiving parent, files a complaint with your CO, you’ll be in for some serious trouble. However, your CO can’t actually force you to make those payments – only punish you for failing to make those payments in the first place. This doesn’t give you an easy out of child support payments, though. Your spouse can still pursue legal means to get the money you owe.
Military wages are usually protected from garnishment (money subtracted from paychecks to pay off creditors), but in the case of child support it’s very different. If you’ve failed to pay child support and your ex has pursued legal means to get the money you owed, you could be paying child support before you even receive your paychecks.
Get in Touch with a Lawyer Today
Any divorce is difficult, and life in the military doesn’t make things any easier. Get in touch with a child support lawyer as soon as possible to understand the risks of your divorce, and learn how you can make sure everything proceeds as smoothly as possible.