Texas Child Support  – Tips to Talk with your Lawyer

Determining standard child support in Texas is pretty straight forward.  The Texas Family Code provides the method to determine child support based on income (gross and net) and the number of children in the marriage.  It is all about the numbers, 20% of monthly net for one child, 25% for two children and 30% for three children.  But, there are a few other things that also factor into determining the particulars of child support in each case.  And, two terms to remember when talking with your lawyer are ‘obligor’ and ‘obligee’.  The obligor parent is the parent who is paying child support, and the obligee parent is the parent receiving child support.

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5 things to talk about with your lawyer when you are talking about Texas child support:

1 – any other children that the obligor parent is supporting outside of the marriage;

2 – which parent pays for medical insurance for your kids and how much does it cost per pay period;

3 – is one parent paying the other parent anything currently? If so, how are they paying?  Are they paying through the Office of the Attorney General or directly to the other parent?

4 – how many times is the obligor parent paid each month?   If the obligor parent is paid twice a month then there are 24 pay periods per year but if the obligor parent is paid every two weeks then there are 26 pay periods per year.  This is important for your lawyer to know because it will help your lawyer determine  and talk about with you how much will be paid to the obligee parent each pay period.

5 – discuss all of the deductions from the obligor’s check including union dues, retirement contributions and anything else that comes out of the paycheck automatically.

These points will get you started talking about your Texas child support questions.  Your attorney will be able to talk with you about the specifics of your case.  My office can help you with these issues and other child support issues as well.  We are happy to talk about your case with you, 940-497-5454.

Jill O’Connell