Category: Child Support

It’s amazing how quickly technology is progressing these days ”“ self-driving cars, astronauts taking selfies on the International Space Station, hydrophobic clothing ”“ so it shouldn’t surprise us to discover that when it comes to child support, there’s an app for that.

Ittavi’s SupportPay service allows divorcees to manage child support payments in a streamlined, hassle-free way. In North America, over $200 billion is exchanged for child support. Using SupportPay allows parents private, secure, transparent and automated payments for sharing expenses and managing child support. Medical, child care, education and other expenses, including ones that are not addressed by court order or state-run payment programs, can all be managed through Ittavi’s online service or on the SupportPay app.

Divorce is the easy part, says founder Sheri Atwood. There’s no such thing as a clean break from your ex when a kid is involved ”“ you are tethered to them financially. One parent owes money for shoes, the other for guitar lessons. Who paid for the doctor? The haircut? The back-and-forth can be strenuous, and SupportPay aims to simplify the process.

The best part is that it is totally transparent. You will know how much is being spent by both you and your ex-spouse. You will always know when child support payments are coming up. And if you and your ex are on sour terms, putting a screen between you and your ex can help remove emotion from the picture.

Divorce Matters ”“ Denver Family Law Attorneys

Child support seems like a reasonable, straightforward concept: the non-custodial parent contributes funds to the custodial parent to financially assist with raising their child. Anyone with children understands how expensive they are!

In practice, though, the system is much more complex, particularly for low-income families. When it comes to parents receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in Colorado, child support money does not go directly to the struggling parent. Instead, the single parent assigns his or her right to collect child support to the state; the state is then responsible for collecting from the other parent and keeps the child support funds.

It stands to reason that the families with the lowest incomes in the state should receive the child support money directly. However, that is not the way it works right now.

Senate Bill 12 seeks to rectify this issue. If the bill is passed, Colorado would join two dozen other states that send a large portion of child support to the custodial parent and children instead of the government. It would also strengthen the family in a variety of ways:

1. The most substantial change is a direct increase in household income for struggling families.
2. Receiving child support payments can reinforce the ties between parent and child; if a child knows that the non-custodial parent is supporting their development financially, it is reasonable to assume the child would see the gesture as meaningful, strengthening their bond indirectly.
3. From a fairness perspective, it only makes sense that the non-custodial parent’s child support payments benefit the child and not the government.

The Colorado Senate Health and Human Services Committee passed the bill, which now will go to the Senate Finance Committee. The bill is sponsored by Sen. John Kefalas from Fort Collins and is endorsed by the editorial board of the Denver Post, the Lutheran Advocacy Committee, the Colorado Catholic Conference and the Bell Policy Center.

Although this is a very serious issue, we cannot help but remember Helen Lovejoy of The Simpsons: Won’t someone think of the children?

Divorce Matters ”“ Denver Child Custody Lawyers

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_27334999/let-child-support-go-kids-not-government

How Can a Private Attorney Help My Case?

We’ve discussed the actions you can take to collect past-due child support. In our third part of the series we will look at how private attorneys can help collect money from a delinquent parent.

CSE vs. Private Attorney

One of the biggest up-sides to having an attorney work on your past-due child support case is that they will be much more motivated to collect money than your local Child Support Enforcement agency (CSE). State agencies will have a long list of cases that are in progress; this means case workers will have a limited amount of resources to use on each case. Private attorneys will have far fewer cases and can give your case the personal attention it deserves. Private attorneys are also able to work for “contingency fees,” meaning you can pay the attorney when you collect payment.

CSE Limitations

There are a few limitations when it comes to CSE collecting past-due child support. CSE will only go after the principle amount of the support order unless there is a judgment from the court; this means interest or other payments (e.g. ½ of extracurricular expenses) won’t always be addressed. The state may also have limited resources for finding a missing parent- this can be a major set-back when trying to collect child support. Interest, in Colorado, on past due amounts, is compounded monthly at 12%. This can turn into a large number quickly, with some cases having tens of thousands of dollars in interest and penalties alone!

An experienced divorce lawyer will be an asset for your case- they will know how to get a judgment so CSE and the attorney can work together to track down your money. Our attorneys are also experts at finding missing people- our team utilizes state-of-the-art resources to track down almost anyone with a connection to the outside world.

The bottom line is that hiring a private attorney to help your past-due child support case can be very helpful. The attorneys at Divorce Matters know how to leverage resources in ways that will maximize the return for our clients. If you have a past-due child support case, we can help. Call us at (720) 542-6142.

As family lawyers, we confront a lot of questions about child support. How can I get more child support? How can I pay less? I understand Lulu needs braces, but is it really also my responsibility to finance her eighth American Girl doll?

These questions swell when family situations change: one parent remarries a much wealthier person; Uncle Albert’s inheritance is passed along; or your ex-spouse wins the lottery (trust us, it happens). While all these seem like valid reasons for recalculating child support payments, the court specifically states there must be a “substantial and continuing change” in circumstances to even consider increasing or decreasing that monthly obligation. In Colorado, a “substantial change” typically translates to at least a 10 percent raise or reduction in the parent’s income— which means child support could be modified if Dad took a severe pay cut, not if he marries Georgina Bloomberg.

The other part of that equation is the “continuing change.” Although losing one’s job is certainly a “substantial change” in circumstances, Colorado courts have previously determined unemployment (or underemployment, for that matter) is only a temporary state of affairs and have refused to modify the amount of child support due in certain cases as a result. Similarly, the court declined to recalculate or abate the child support obligations of a man about to be incarcerated for six years, claiming jail time alone wasn’t justification enough for adjusting the existing arrangement.

Inheritances, prize winnings, and lottery proceeds, however, are considered “substantial changes” and have warranted modifications to child support in the past. A good Denver divorce lawyer could even prove that the rate of inflation has spurred a change in circumstances conducive to revising the amount of support needed or owed. In sum, the court is not interested in whether it would have awarded the same amount of child support based on the family’s current monetary situation, but whether the terms of the original agreement have become “unfair” in light of major changes to either parent’s finances.

The exception to these guidelines is, of course, a medical concern. If Lulu does suddenly need braces or, heaven forbid, surgery or long-term medication, then the court will step in to ensure the financial burden is shared by both parents.

Divorce Matters is well-versed in “substantial and continuing changes,” so please contact us if you would like to review your child support agreement!

From daycare to pediatric visits to after-school snacks, it will cost an average $241,080 for a middle-class couple to raise a child born in 2012 for 18 years. Calculated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, that figure is up almost 3 percent from 2011””and it doesn’t even include those costly four years of college.

Fortunately, single parents don’t need to bear this financial responsibility alone. Whether you were legally married or not, Colorado law ensures that a “fair share” of each parent’s income is given to the child. Child support is a common matter in divorce cases, of course, but many unwed mothers and fathers don’t realize their ex-partner may be entitled to””or may be obliged to pay””monetary assistance as well.

In order to seek child support, the first step is to establish paternity. This is traditionally filled out on the birth certificate when the child is born, but you could also submit a “Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity” form or undergo a DNA test at a later date. Alternatively, the only way to dismiss child support responsibilities is by terminating your paternal rights; this often occurs when a step-parent is willing to take over and provide for the child. While paternity is a key concern in obtaining child support, it should be noted that a mother is just as responsible for contributing financially to a child’s upbringing and may be required to make monthly maintenance payments herself.

Likewise, unmarried same-sex parents are also obliged to share the cost of raising a child. They’ll have to file paperwork under the Uniform Parentage Act to claim parentage, but Colorado has recently made several advancements in giving non-biological same-sex parents more parental rights. In cases where a non-biological parent has not legally adopted the child or signed the birth certificate, it may also be possible to prove in loco parentis, which essentially means the individual has assumed a parental relationship for all practical purposes.

Once parentage is legally established, the court will plug a number of elements into a standard formula to determine a monthly child support plan. These factors include the number of children, the number of nights spent with each parent, daycare fees, health insurance costs, and each parent’s gross income. The particular needs of the child (“But Lulu can only eat organic carrots!”) are very rarely considered by the court. In fact, you can calculate your monthly payments through the Colorado Judicial Department’s website on your own at any time.

A standard of living adequate for a child’s development provided for by both parents is considered a fundamental human right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and is therefore a very serious responsibility. If you need help paying or receiving child support, please contact one of Divorce Matters’ knowledgeable lawyers soon.

The drone of the “Get your billion back, America” commercials have likely already alerted you to the fact, but tax season is officially upon us! Things can get a little complicated if you’ve separated or divorced within the last year, so here are a few things to pay attention to when filing your paperwork:

1. Communicate with your ex-partner. It’s important that BOTH of you list the same figure for alimony support and that only ONE of you claims a single child as a dependent. The tax terms should be explicitly stated in your separation or divorce decree, but it’s definitely worth revisiting what you’ve already agreed to in order to avoid any innocent mistakes. Discrepancies in the numbers and duplicated claims are red flags for the IRS, and the last thing anyone wants is a laborious audit with their former spouse.

2. How you file depends on your status on the last day of 2013. If your separation or divorce decree came through between January 1 and April 15 of 2014, the tax return you submit for 2013 should still reflect your married status. On the other hand, you cannot file as married for financial reasons even if your decree only came through in December and you were together for most of the year. Some people, however, may qualify for the “Head of Household” status if they lived apart from their spouse for the last six months of 2013.

On that note, you need to register a name change immediately. The name you write on the tax return and the one registered with the Social Security Administration must match. If you’ve reverted to your maiden name or dropped a hyphenated surname, use these instructions to make sure your tax refund isn’t delayed over a bureaucratic matter.

3. The “Head of Household” or “Custodial Parent” is the person with whom your children live for more than half the year (i.e., 183 nights). If, however, the child spent an equal number of nights at each house, the custodial parent is the one with the higher adjusted gross income. To get down into the nitty gritty, begin your calculations from December 31 as that is considered the first night of the year. There are a whole bunch of addendums for those in special situations, such as parents who work nights or for when a child is away at camp, so we recommend you read up on those here.

4. If you do split custody evenly and aren’t using the “Head of Household” status, consider also splitting the dependency claim. The IRS allows parents to divide their children for tax benefits even if the children are always together and spend an identical amount of time with each parent. Therefore, the mother could claim Jack while the father claims Jill without penalty. Alternatively””or if you don’t have an even number of children””you could switch back and forth over who gets the dependency claim each year. The main thing is that both parents cannot claim the same child as a dependent in the same tax year.

5. Child support is neither deductible nor taxable. If your ex-spouse owes you back child support though, it is possible to apply for an offset from the IRS. This means the delinquent parent’s tax refund will be intercepted and sent to you instead to settle the debt. More information on submitting a case for the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program may be found here.

6. Alimony payments are deductible and taxable, however, if there is legal documentation of the support agreement. It’s perfectly legitimate to include all forms of support (a salary deduction and car insurance payments, for instance) as part of the alimony calculation, just make sure both of you are writing down the exact same figure.

7. Unfortunately, you cannot deduct any legal or court fees for getting a divorce. You may, however, deduct legal fees for getting advice on your alimony arrangement or on how to file your taxes. You may also deduct the cost of appraisers and accountants obtained to determine your tax obligations or to help you get alimony.

Confused? Call us at 720.542.6142 and we’ll get all your (tax-deductible!) questions sorted.