Child Support
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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Courts have an inherent duty to protect the interests of minor children. Therefore, child support may always be modified by a court having jurisdiction to ensure that child support is sufficient to meet the reasonable needs of the child and in accordance with each parent’s ability to provide for the child. Regardless of whether parties have a written agreement establishing child support or an existing court order setting child support, either party may initiate legal…
Read This Article >>Ordinarily, a parent’s legal responsibility to provide child support for their child terminates when the child attains age 18. However, there are exceptions. If the child is still in primary or secondary school when the child attains age 18, child support will continue by law until the child graduates from high school, ceases to attend school on a regular basis, fails to make academic progress, or reaches age 20, whichever first occurs. Upon application to…
Read This Article >>There are some situations in which your attorney may recommend that you retain certain professionals, such as an accountant, appraiser, or vocational expert, to assist with your domestic case. A vocational expert is a consultant who may be hired to prepare a report and testify as an expert witness at a deposition or in court regarding employment and economic issues that relate to a party’s ability to work and earn income, immediately and in the…
Read This Article >>If you are experiencing financial hardship and having difficulty complying with a court order requiring you to pay child support, you might want to think twice before you become delinquent in your obligation and accumulate child support arrearages. Failure to pay court-ordered child support can have serious and long-term legal, financial, and personal consequences. A person to whom child support is owed is deemed a creditor of the child support “obligor” (the person obligated to…
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