5 Things To Know About Filing For Child Support

If you are a single parent, filing for child support is something you should definitely consider. Raising a child on your own can be challenging and it's both you and your child's right to receive the financial support you need from the other parent. Here are five things you should know about filing for child support:

  1. Contact Proper Authorities: The first thing you will need to do is contact the right people. You will want to contact your local office of child support and they will be the ones to work with you and enforce the child support order. 
  2. Wait for Genetic Testing: If you were not married to the parent in the past who you are trying to obtain child support from, then you are going to have to wait for genetic testing to be done. The child support office will want to establish that the parent is truly the biological parent of the child. 
  3. Locate Other Parent: If you are unsure about the other parent's exact location, then your local child support office is going to have to take the time to actually locate them and then proceed from there. If the other parent is living in a different state, it is possible that collecting child support would not be possible or the process may be a bit more lengthy. It depends on the circumstances as well as the laws of your specific state. 
  4. Pay a Fee: When you are working with your local child support office, you are going to have to pay a small fee for utilizing their services. It's possible that the fee may be higher for lengthier and more complicated cases. However, if you receive financial assistance from certain government programs, then the fee for collecting child support will likely be covered. This depends on the specific financial assistance program that you are a part of and the state that you are in.
  5. Keep the Length in Mind: Many people wishing to collect child support don't realize how long the process can take. Don't expect to receive the child support that you need any time soon. You should still prepare financially to go a number of months without the support that you may need. 

Knowing these five things about how child support works can help you to better understand how to prepared for it and what you may have to do in order to obtain the child support that you need.

For professional legal services, contact a law firm such as Novenstern Fabriani & Gaudio, LLP.   

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