From business matters to personal legal issues.
Practice Areas
Child Support
Under South Carolina law, both parents must contribute to the well-being of their children. And there are child support guidelines that determine how much each parent should pay. But the issue is far more complicated than simply plugging numbers into an estimator.
A number of other factors come into play, including parenting time, health-insurance expenses, day-care costs, parents’ income and more.
That is why, whether you are establishing support or asking for a modification of an existing order, you need an experienced family law attorney who will protect your interests as well as those of your child.
It is presumed that the amount of support determined by the guidelines is correct. That is a rebuttable presumption, though, which means that a parent can ask that the court deviate from the guidelines in extenuating circumstances such as when there are significant educational expenses, consumer debts, and more. Our experienced family law attorneys will carefully review financial information to see if any of those apply or to determine if the other party’s claims lack merit.
Though it may seem the issues of child support and child custody are intertwined, legally they are two distinct and separate issues. One parent cannot deny the other visitation because child support payments are in arrears, nor can a parent refuse to pay child support because he or she is not exercising visitation. Doing so puts the parent at risk of being found in contempt of court.
