Child Support
Under North Carolina law, the legal parents (either biological or adoptive) of a child are deemed to be primarily responsible for the child’s financial support. As such, a stepparent has no legal duty to pay child support for the benefit of a stepchild in the event the stepparent’s marriage to the child’s parent ends, either by death or divorce. However, a stepparent who has acted “in loco parentis”
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Can I Require My Spouse to Maintain Life Insurance To Secure an Alimony or Child Support Obligation?
Under North Carolina law, the obligation of a spouse to pay alimony, or a parent to pay child support, ceases upon the death of the obligor. Maintaining a life insurance policy in effect insuring the life of the supporting spouse or parent can provide a dependent spouse or custodial parent with valuable financial security in the event of the death of the supporting spouse or parent.
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When a parent is paying court ordered child support to the other parent for two or more children, and the obligation to pay child support for one of the children terminates, unless the court’s order allocates the child support between the children, the supporting parent cannot legally unilaterally reduce or adjust the amount of his/her child support obligation.
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The North Carolina Child Support Guidelines provide a formula for determining the presumptive child support obligation for parties’ whose combined adjusted gross income is $300,000 per year or less. The child support guidelines allow various factors to be taken into consideration when determining each parent’s presumptive child support obligation. These various factors include, but not are not limited to, adjustments for work-related child care expenses, health and dental insurance expense for the child, and a…
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North Carolina law allows a judge to order one party to pay the other party’s reasonable attorney’s fees in certain family related legal matters, including child custody, child support, post-separation support, and alimony. What this means is that, in some circumstances, a judge may order the other party to pay your attorney’s fees, or require you to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees. In awarding attorney’s fees in actions for child custody and/or child support,…
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