Modification of Child Support in California

If you are divorced or separated and you need to seek to have your current child support order modified, you can do so provided that you can demonstrate a material change in circumstances. To avoid being inundated with requests for nominal child support modifications, the California courts will only consider requests that are based on significant changes in the parents’ ability to pay or the children’s needs. If you would like to determine whether you are eligible to seek a modification, we encourage you to schedule a consultation with one of our Irvine or Orange County child support attorneys.

Grounds for Requesting a Modification of Child Support in Orange County

The California courts recognize a variety of different events that qualify as material changes in circumstances. However, the occurrence of one (or more) of these events does not automatically trigger eligibility for a modification. In order to successfully modify your existing child support order, you must be able to demonstrate that the change is material to you given your personal family and financial circumstances. With this in mind, potential grounds for modifying child support in Orange County include:

• A change in one or both parents’ income
• A change in the parents’ parenting time schedule
• One parent’s loss of a job
• One parent having a child in another relationship
• One parent becoming incarcerated
• A change in the child’s health care, child care or educational needs

As explained on the California courts’ website, “If the parents . . . can reach an agreement on a new amount of child support, they can write it up as a stipulation and give it to the judge for signature and to have it become a new order.” However, if you and your former spouse or partner cannot agree on an appropriate modification, then you will need to independently file a petition for modification. In either case, until you receive a formal modification order from the court, you must continue to adhere to your existing child support order.

What Change(s) have Affected Your (or Your Former Spouse or Partner’s) Ability to Pay?

Prior to seeking a child support modification, it is important to ensure that you have a clear understanding of all of the various changes that might warrant revisiting your current child support award. For example, if you file a petition to decrease your monthly child support payments, could your former spouse or partner argue that another change actually warrants an increase in your support obligation? Due to this type of concern, before taking any formal legal steps or approaching your former spouse or partner about the possibility of negotiating an agreement, we encourage you to discuss your situation with one of our experienced Orange County child support attorneys.

Schedule a Confidential Initial Consultation With Our Irvine or Orange County Child Support Attorneys

If you would like to find out if you are eligible to seek modification of your Orange County child support order, please contact us to schedule a confidential initial consultation with one of our experienced attorneys. To schedule an appointment at your convenience, call us at 949-474-0800 or inquire online today.

Common Questions About Modifying a Child Support Order in California

When can a child support order be modified?

On a material change of circumstances since the last order. The most common changes are a shift in either parent’s income, a change in the parenting timeshare, a change in the children’s expenses, or the addition of another child a parent supports. Because California support is set by a guideline formula, a change in an input generally produces a change in the result, so the practical test is whether recalculating the guideline with current figures yields a materially different number. Where the existing order was set below guideline by agreement, different rules can apply.

How far back does a modification apply?

Ordinarily to the date the modification request was filed and served, not to the date the circumstances actually changed. That single rule causes more avoidable loss than any other in support practice. A parent who loses a job and waits six months to file generally cannot recover the six months of support that accrued at the old rate in the meantime, and it continues to accrue with interest. The corollary is that a parent seeking an increase also gains nothing from the period before filing. Filing promptly is the whole game.

What happens to support if a parent loses their job?

Support does not adjust automatically; a request must be filed. Once it is, the court recalculates on current income, but it can also impute income based on earning capacity where a parent has the ability and opportunity to work. A genuine involuntary job loss with a documented job search is treated very differently from a voluntary reduction, a change to lower-paying work by choice, or a business owner’s decision to reduce their own compensation. Documenting the search and the circumstances from the outset is what distinguishes the two.

Can unpaid support be reduced or forgiven?

No. Accrued child support arrears cannot be retroactively modified or discharged by the court, they accrue interest at the statutory judgment rate, and they are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. The receiving parent can agree to accept less, but the court cannot order it. This is why a parent who cannot pay the ordered amount should seek a modification immediately rather than paying what they can and hoping to resolve the difference later. The difference becomes a judgment that follows them, with interest.

About the Firm

Seastrom Tuttle Murphy Dockstader is a family law firm in Irvine representing clients throughout Orange County, and in Los Angeles County. The firm practices family law exclusively. Its attorneys include Fellows of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, and attorneys certified as specialists in family law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Call 949.474.0800 to discuss modifying a child support order with the firm.