Texas law mandates that all parents financially support their minor children, whether married or not. While most child support agreements are settled during divorce, courts can also enforce them for unmarried parents. These decisions can profoundly impact all parties in a divorce or separation. If divorce is being considered, contacting a skilled Galveston County child support lawyer is crucial to help you understand and manage the legal process. Tad Nelson has helped many families find peace in their situations by guiding them through the devastating process and is ready to hep you! Call today to schedule your consultation!
Child Support in Texas
Chapter 154 of the Texas Family Code establishes the legal rules that a court must follow in ordering child support. A judge can order either or both parents to pay support until the child is 18 or graduates high school, whichever is later. In cases where the child was disabled before reaching 18 years of age, the court may order a parent to continue paying child support “for an indefinite period”.
Texas has basic guidelines for calculating child support based on a parent’s net income. But a judge may vary from the guidelines if he determines it is in the “best interest of the child”. The Family Code specifies 17 separate factors that a judge may consider when making such a determination.
How Will My Taxes Be Affected?
In the case of divorce, knowing who is financially responsible for the child can be figured out with the court and your spouse/ex-spouse in a form of pre-marital agreements or simply working together through the process. However, knowing how paying child support will affect your taxes for both parties is very important.
You must know that only one parent can claim the child(ren) on their taxes, depending on who is supporting who. The IRS will cross-check the Social Security Number of the children listed as dependents before processing returns for either you or your former spouse. If it all clears, there is nothing to worry about. If the cross-check comes back and shows both parents have claimed the same child on their tax statements when they can legally claim one of them, the IRS will more than likely require the documents to be re-filed or re-submitted.
Similar to claiming a child for your taxes, the spouse claiming the child must will need to make sure they meet a handful of requirements including, but not limiting to, the child living with the parent for at least 6 months of the tax year and the parent providing more than 50% of support to said child. More information on certain situations regarding this can be discussed with our child support attorney. These requirements may not be applicable to all depending on the situation at hand.
What If I’m Unmarried And Living Together?
This question can come up and can be simply answered by saying that the parent that is able to claim the child in question (for tax related purposes) is the parent who provided more than 50% of that child’s support for that tax year. While this is the general rule, this can be further discussed with an attorney to make sure there is no confusion, issues, or mis-inheritance/support for the children in the family.
Need Help Establishing, Contesting, or Modifying a Support Order?
The Law Offices of Tad Nelson & Associates represents clients on both sides of child support and spousal support disputes. In many cases we also help seek modification of existing support orders. Whatever your situation, contact us today at (281) 280-0100 if you live in Galveston or League City and would like to schedule a consultation.
Tad Nelson & Associates: Child Support and Spousal Support — Friendswood, Galveston, League City, Texas