Georgia Child Support Modifications in a Recession

The recession is affecting everyone. Outrageously rich Wall Street bankers are broke and lucky to serve hot dogs at a baseball game. Factory workers are laid off and barely surviving on unemployment benefits. Single mothers lose their jobs and have no hope of finding another one. What happens to your child support in Georgia?

Many people who were paying child support in GA are going back to court to have their agreement changed. This is called a "child support modification hearing." If successful, the person paying child support in Georgia can have their monthly payment reduced, temporarily suspended, or whatever else the court decides is "fair" during the child support modification hearing. Vicious battles erupt because the results of child support modification in Georgia are like dominoes falling.

A court faces a tough balancing act when dealing with a Georgia child support modification hearing. Usually, the person paying child support has lost a job because of the recession. Often through no fault of their own, the parent is financially incapable of paying child support. They either have no job, or if they managed to find a new job, it pays much less than their old one did.

What is the court to do? If the court reduces the GA child support payments during the modification hearing, the custodial parent and the child now have less money for necessities like food, housing, and clothes. The custodial parent oftentimes needs the money because they don’t have enough to support the child on their own. Sometimes, the custodial parent has also been laid off, and the child support payments are the only thing keeping them from starving or becoming homeless. But if the court does not reduce the payment during the Georgia child support modification hearing, the supporting parent can’t pay, and could end up in jail for failing to pay child support. Then nobody gets any money.

Less money is better than no money in these tough times. But how much less is still enough? With no definitive answer, we strongly recommend that if you are dealing with a child support modification issue in Georgia, you retain the help of a good family law attorney.

Georgia Child Support Attorney
Child Support Attorney in Atlanta GA