Child Custody & Support
Flower Mound, Lewisville, and Midland-Odessa Child Custody and Child Support Lawyers
The emotional nature of cases involving children demands our law firm’s utmost attention. Issues such as child support and child custody are discussed with our team of competent and experienced lawyers to determine the best legal strategy. Our ultimate goal is to help our clients obtain a positive outcome. Our attorneys have seen the struggles a family can experience by engaging in a custody battle.
Therefore, we encourage negotiations at every turn. However, quite often, our clients are faced with an opposing party that is irrational, immature, or combative. If you find yourself in this situation, our legal team will never back down from a contested trial. In fact, in both facets, negotiation, and litigation, our Texas lawyers, will guide you in the best legal strategy to ensure the best outcome possible.
Denton, Ector, and Midland Counties Child Support and Child Custody Attorney
In Texas, child support is most often calculated by using specific guidelines. These child support guidelines are presumed to be reasonable and in the child’s best interest. However, the court may decide, or the parties may agree, that the proposed guidelines are unjust or inappropriate under the circumstances. A skilled attorney can guide you through the process to determine whether we could persuade the court to deviate from the guidelines normally imposed. Whether this is an original proceeding or modification, a knowledgeable attorney will advocate on your behalf.
The calculation is driven by several factors including net income, the number of children, and the cost of health insurance. The court will also consider factors such as daycare costs, education costs, and whether or not the child has any special needs.
For the primary conservator or the parent with whom the child lives, the biggest dilemma we see is that the party that is ordered to pay child support has not accurately identified their current income or has become intentionally unemployed in order to avoid paying child support. Our legal team will work diligently with you to expose this income and motive and get you the child support that you deserve.
For the possessory conservator or the parent who visits the children and pays child support, we often see the court looking only towards your past earnings and not taking into consideration current factors such as reduced commission, bonuses, or lack of business revenue. The attorneys at The Jimenez Law Firm, P.C., will present an organized and persuasive argument to the court regarding these factors. This may persuade the court to base your child support on your current income.
It is wise to work with a lawyer to ensure the child support amount is as accurate and fair as possible. Failure to obtain a competent lawyer may result in you accepting an offer that is not an accurate depiction of what you should be paying or receiving for child support.
The following is a chart that is used to calculate child support if the obligor’s (the person ordered to pay child support) monthly net resources are $7,500.00 or less. This chart will only apply if the obligor does not have any other children outside of the relationship.
| Number of Children | Percentage of Monthly Net Resources |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20 |
| 2 | 25 |
| 3 | 30 |
| 4 | 35 |
| 5 | 40 |
| 6 or more | Not less than 40 |
If the obligor’s (the person ordered to pay child support) monthly net resources are more than $7,500.00 the skilled attorneys at our firm may be able to obtain more child support than the percentages listed above. In essence, we will need to prove that such things as private schools, nannies, summer vacations, and extracurricular activities are in the child’s best interest.
A court may order a parent to pay retroactive child support. The time limitations and amounts pertaining to retroactive child support are unique to each individual case and can only be discovered during a consultation with our law firm.
Flower Mound, Lewisville, and Midland-Odessa Child Custody Attorneys
When guiding clients through child custody, we make sure that the client is 100 percent prepared for the process. We ensure that he or she understands the importance of the process, the paperwork, and the initial hearing.
Through our preparation, we address topics such as each parent’s income, the child’s wishes, and family violence. If there is a history of family or domestic violence, it can affect child custody.
Most often, the court will grant the parents joint managing conservatorship (JMC). In family situations where there are allegations of abuse, neglect, or a history of drug use, our firm will argue that one parent should be designated as the sole managing conservatorship (SMC). The other parent, then, is limited to being a possessory conservator. The possessory conservator will have visitation rights and will be responsible for paying child support to the SMC.
These judgments, as with most items in the divorce judgment or suit affecting the parent-child relationship, can be modified at a later date.
Contact Our Firm
If you have questions regarding child custody and support, contact The Jimenez Law Firm, P.C., by calling or by completing the contact form on this website. We offer consultations and accept most major credit cards for the payment of services.
Child Custody and Support attorney