Our Madison divorce lawyers can help with the complications surrounding child support payments and custody agreements. We offer fixed fee rates and payment plans so cost is never an issue.
Child support payments are meant to cover the costs of basic living for the child. This can include food, clothing, housing utilities, transportation, personal care, and health insurance. In addition to the child support order, variable costs could include child care, school tuition, special needs of the child, or other activities that have a considerable cost associated with them. There are 2 ways Child Support payments are distributed:
Direct Deposit: sends payments directly to the checking or savings account that you provide.
EPPIC MasterCard: acts like an ATM card or Bankcard, which will be sent to you if there is no Direct Deposit account set up.
In Madison, typically the parent who does not live with the child pays the support payments, and the parent who actively lives with the child receives the payments. The support guidelines explain what each parent owes.
The Income Guidelines for Dane County follow the Wisconsin Law guidelines, which are calculated as:
Take a look at our easy-to-use child support calculator, or the Child Support Conversion Table to help estimate your monthly child support obligation.
Dane County’s Special Support Guidelines follow the Wisconsin State guidelines, which are for parents who:
Sources of income for Dane County follow the Wisconsin state guidelines. Some sources of income may include any of the following:
Modification is the term for having a child support order legally changed in Wisconsin. Only a court review has the authority to modify an order. This decision can either increase or decrease the monthly payments, potentially adding or modifying the order to provide medical support. To obtain the order modification forms, please visit Wisconsin Court Systems Forms.
You will need to request a modification to your order from the court. This review is the only way that a child support order can be modified. This decision can increase or decrease your monthly payments, along with the option to add or modify the order to include medical support. To get the order modification forms, please visit the Wisconsin Court Systems Forms.
A review of an order to see if it needs to be updated will be completed if:
An order WOULD NOT have a review done if:
Madison follows the Wisconsin State guidelines when adjusting child support payments. These guidelines include:
The Madison child support agency monitors all orders individually to ensure they are being followed. The agency is required to take action by federal guidelines if the payer is one or more months behind on payments. Income withholding will be the first action taken on the paying parent. All payments will begin to incur interest alongside the income withholding. The amount of income withholding will continue to increase as the payments are continually past due. Some other actions include but are not limited to suspending or revoking drivers, professional, occupational and recreational licenses. Once these steps have been taken, they will determine what further actions need to be enforced.
As the past due balance reaches a certain level, legal actions will start to be taken on the paying parent. Actions included in this are intercepting tax refunds or imposing liens on property. Federal enforcement may include denial of loans, grants or passports. All unpaid payments will be reported to credit bureaus. Check out the Wisconsin State Legislatures Child Support Administrative Enforcement for more information on legal actions that are taken when child support is left unpaid.
You and the other parent would need to sign a stipulation. This is a legal document that will reduce or eliminate any past due child support owed to you. The court needs to approve this, though it will not change any support that is owed to the state. This decision is irreversible, so make sure you contact a Madison family lawyer with your specific questions.
Under Wisconsin Law, most child support cases will end when the child turns 18 years old. If the child is still attending high school or completing their GED after they turn 18, child support may continue until they turn 19 years old. If the child is 18 and not pursuing their high school education or equivalent, the payments for child support will end. All past due payments, typically called arrears, can be enforced for up to 20 years after the child turns 18 years of age. An emancipation letter will be sent to both parents 90 days before the child turns 18 years old. This order will end when the youngest child turns 18 years old unless it can be proved they are pursuing their GED or equivalent.
The age of majority will extend if the child is mentally or physically disabled and cannot support themselves. The court will generally define the term disability as being unable to support oneself by earning a living. States may differ on whether or not to have the adult disabled child’s support still as part of the support guidelines or to go by the needs of the child compared to the parent’s ability to provide.
There are many states that allow parents to create college support orders. This can be done voluntarily by the parents, or by court order. This is either in addition to child support, or a separate order after the child support order is completed. Every state allows for parents to add college tuition funds into child support orders.
You can contact one of our Divorce Attorneys for assistance modifying your support order. If both parents agree on changing the support, our lawyers can help prepare and submit an order to the court. We can also help with mediation if an agreement is difficult to reach.
A modification request from the court may provide a different outcome than what was expected. Be sure to have all the facts on your case, or contact one of our Divorce Attorneys near Madison before making this request.
The Madison child support agency has many cases that they are involved in. In order to process all cases fairly, each case can take some time to process. You can file your own motion for the court to try and speed up your case or contact our Divergent Family Law firm near Dane County for specific questions.
Income withholding will continue at the same rate until all past due payments are paid in full. Cases such as these can be enforced for up to 20 years after the youngest child reaches the age of 18.
If the support payments are withheld from your civilian paycheck, it will also need to be withheld from your military pay. Your status will need to be updated with the Madison child support agency.
The court has the only authority and responsibility to enforce legal custody, visitation and placement orders. Contact one of our Divorce Attorneys to help with the court papers and process.
No, the child support agency has no authority to arrest the other parent. A warrant can be sent to the court for a signature, which if signed will be sent to the Police office where they can arrest the parent.
Once a court rules a case, the Madison child support agency will not be able to change anything. You may appeal this decision with one of our Family Law Lawyers at another court date, or contact your caseworker about your other available options.
Madison does not charge a fee for Child Support Services. There may, however, be a fee for any specialized child support services that are not part of the support guidelines.
The following need to be completed in order to start or change your child support: File the paperwork necessary with the Madison County court clerk File a copy with the Madison child support agency. Make sure the other parent is served with the new or updated papers.
Ways of avoiding further enforcement actions are: Pay all past due payments in full, then keep up with current payments If you make a job change, ensure that your support is paid on time. If there is any possibility of your paycheck deduction from your employer being delayed, send your payment and payment coupon to the Madison child support agency. Start a payment plan with the Madison agency for any and all past due payments.
Even after the loss of a job, the child support order will continue. The court has the only authority to change an order. If there is a substantial change in income due to this job loss, a request for a change in the amount of support you are paying can be sent in. This will not happen automatically, so be sure to contact one of our divorce attorneys or the Madison child support agency to see how to make a change to your support.
When a parent refuses to pay child support, income withholding will continue at the same rate until all the past-due payments are fully paid. These cases can be enforced up to 20 years AFTER the youngest child turns 18.
Please contact one of our Madison divorce attorneys to learn more about how to start receiving, modifying, enforcing, or terminating child support payments.
