Greensboro Child Support Lawyer

What happens to children can be one of the thorniest issues to deal with in a divorce settlement case. Settling custody matters is just the first step. The raising of children also has to be financed and both parents—regardless of what the custody arrangement ends up being—are legally responsible for sharing the financial costs equally. Roupas Law Firm is here to protect the interests of our clients and their kids.  

Attorney Tom Roupas, a Greensboro child support lawyer going back to 1997, has a deep and nuanced understanding of North Carolina law that his clients can rely on. He founded Roupas Law Firm in 2005 with the objective of delivering smart, compassionate, legal guidance to people in an efficient manner. Our Greensboro office serves clients throughout Guilford County and all over Alamance, Rockingham, and Randolph counties. 

Call today at (336) 850-5525 or reach out online to set up a consultation. 

Factors in a North Carolina Child Support Agreement

Every case is different, but there are some common principles that are looked at when figuring out an appropriate amount for child support. This starts with the combined income of both parents. Children share in the lifestyle of their parents, for better or for worse and that continues to be true in divorce. The parent that has a high-paying C-suite job in downtown Greensboro will likely have a higher support payment than someone earning a middle-class income. The medical needs of the children are another factor. Children with special needs will have higher costs, and that will certainly be a part of the final support agreement.

How custody is settled will have an impact on the support payments. Parents who split time evenly with their children are in a very different situation than one where the non-custodial parent gets every other weekend. The state of North Carolina seeks to bring as much standardization as possible to child support by establishing worksheets for three different classes of guidelines, based on the custody arrangement. Financial information is entered into whichever worksheet applies and that creates a final number. 

Now, the “final number” isn’t literally final. There is discretion to make adjustments based on circumstances. This is where an experienced lawyer can be particularly valuable, in understanding what arguments may be viable in seeking a change to the figure produced by the worksheet.

Get the guidance of our Greensboro child support attorney by calling (336) 850-5525 or by filling out our online contact form to arrange for a consultation. 

Modifying a North Carolina Child Support Agreement

Life can throw changes at us, and sometimes those changes render the original terms of the support agreement obsolete. That C-level executive in Greensboro might have been downsized out of a job and is now earning significantly less income. Or, the middle-class person got a big promotion, saw a business take off, or otherwise started enjoying a lot more disposable income. Either of these circumstances, along with anything else that impacted the original agreement can be grounds for seeking modification. 

The changes used as the basis for requesting modification must still be significant, and they must be considered likely to last for an extended period of time. A judge is the final arbiter of this. That’s why, it is imperative that ex-spouses never depart from the terms of their original agreement until a judge signs off on the modification request.  Even if the ex-spouses are on reasonably good terms—even if the one receiving the support payments is understanding of the need for a smaller amount—the right course of action is still to simply let the modification process play itself out. And we’re here to help in that regard.