Managing Payment Obligations in Metro Phoenix and the East Valley
At the Law Offices of Janice M. Palmer, P.C., we believe that parents should protect their children as much as possible from getting caught in the conflicts that led to separation or divorce. Finding a way to assure the child's material security through sensible child support arrangements, fairly established and faithfully performed, can represent a great start toward stabilizing and strengthening other aspects of your parent-child relationship, whether you'll be making or receiving the payments. Contact our office in Chandler to learn more about your rights and responsibilities concerning Arizona child support.
In essence, the obligation to support your children is imposed by law and is negotiable only within certain limits. Because the right to support belongs to the child, parents cannot bargain it away through premarital agreements, separation agreements, uncontested divorce settlements, or trade offs tied to property division or spousal maintenance arrangements.
Working With the Child Support Guidelines in Mesa, Tempe and Gilbert
The Arizona Child Support Guidelines provide a formula for establishing the amount of the child support payment. The formula is based on the parents' income and the number of children to be supported, together with adjustments for health care premiums and unreimbursed medical expenses. The guidelines apply in both divorce and paternity cases, and an agreement or court order that falls within the guideline amount is normally accepted by the Court.
Notwithstanding the guidelines, there are specific adjustments that a trial judge can consider in determining the correct amount of child support. The Arizona Guidelines allow for adjustments where parents have other children, where there are extraordinary costs associated with a child, special needs or extraordinary expenses for the child to be supported, disability or health problems of the parent to be paying the support, or other factors with a demonstrable and unavoidable effect either on the amount of the need or the ability to pay.
With more than 25 years of family law experience in Maricopa County and northern Arizona, Chandler child support attorney Janice Palmer knows how to deal with the practical demands of a child support problem while helping to manage the emotional consequences of the situation for yourself and your children. For an experienced lawyer's advice about your options for resolving a child support problem in Phoenix or the East Valley, contact the Law Offices of Janice M. Palmer, P.C.
