It’s an unfortunate truth child support is often misused by the people who accept or demand it. If you suspect your ex is taking your money and spending it on things other than your child’s health and welfare, here are just a few ways to investigate your suspicions.
Understand the Basics
The first thing you should know is it’s very difficult to prove a misuse of child support payments. There are no laws saying your ex has to spend X amount of dollars on diapers and onesies each month.
In addition, you can’t force your ex to buy child-related things. Even if you win your case, it’s important to understand you won’t get to dictate how your money is spent.
Research Your State Laws
If you suspect your ex is squandering your child support payments, your best bet is getting your payments reduced so they have less to waste. Different states have different formulas for how child support is calculated.
Do some research into the factors that make up their equations. Your payment amount might be based off things like income, visitation and estimated living estimates.
It helps to throw doubt on one or more of them.
Document Any Signs of Trouble
Child abuse is a very serious claim to make in a court of law. However, if your little one shows signs of neglect, you might have a case for the misuse of your child support payments.
If they aren’t getting the food, clothing and shelter that should be covered by your payments, you’ll have a better chance of proving their other parent is being irresponsible with your money.
Along with the serious aspect of this claim, you have to understand the consequences of claiming negligence.
This could be you, another relative or whoever else the court deems appropriate to take care of the child. This would mean having your child uprooted and facing some instability in his or her life.
Of course, if negligence is really going on, then you should absolutely not hesitate to act on your child’s behalf.
Talk to a Lawyer
A good family law attorney will listen to your story and decide whether or not you do have a case. If necessary, they’ll get the ball rolling with any legal action that needs to be taken against your ex.
Since child support law is so vague and undefined, it can be a big boon to your case to have legal experts on your side. Starting out, however, you should not expect such an issue to be resolved immediately.
It can take months, if not years to come to a reasonable conclusions. Just remember it’s all about what’s truly in the best interest of your child.
These are just a few actions to take if you suspect your misuse of your child support payments. It’s your duty as a parent to make sure your money is going towards your child’s health and welfare. Don’t delay if you have suspicions or concerns about their welfare.
Many divorcing couples are looking for ways to lower the emotional trauma for their children as much as they can. Heated arguments and accusations, bitter custody battles, fights over finances can completely shatter families and scar children psychologically for the rest of their lives. Get five tips that may help divorced couples ease some of their wounds and make a more collaborative and pain-free child support plan.
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Thank you for this information. It is really helpful for those who are divorced and paying for child support. To deal with this problem of child support misuse you can use the help of a family lawyer. The lawyer will help you with this with all the legal procedures and law so that the child pay cannot be misused and it will benefit the child. To find the family lawyer you can visit http://fr.linkedin.com/in/bechara-tarabay-550b7929 and get more information about the child support misuse and its solution.
Thank you Louis for sharing this.
Gerardo
Hannah you are terrible. I have spoken to lawyers who say abuse of Child support payments CAN be fought against. Yes it takes time, but most victims of this are father’s. You are obviously NOT a victim of this and seem to be discouraging father’s from getting the justice they deserve. Shame in you. You are disgusting .
Hi Raveen
I reread Hannah’s article and I feel she is only providing suggestions on how to proceed if you expect instances of child support misuse. I disagree with your perception she is discouraging father’s from getting justice. She is merely stating it’s a difficult allegation to prove and it may take significant time to prove it. Also, does the fact you disagree with her really make her terrible and disgusting? Seriously?
Gerardo