child support arrears Question:

I have been paying child support arrears for what seems like forever.

My child is now a grown adult with a family of his own yet I am still trying to pay off child support!

Why do I have to keep paying if the money is no longer going to support my child?

How to get child support arrears dismissed

Child support arrears can build up quickly and take months or years to eliminate.

Child support debt does not disappear when the original support obligation terminates. So even though your son is an adult with his own family to support, you still owe money for the support you were obligated to pay when your son was a minor child.

You should not, however, be paying for any new support obligations at this point, so make sure that the support you are paying is only for the back support you owe from years past.

If you are paying for arrears accrued while your son was a minor, you will have to continue to pay those support arrearage payments until the debt is paid off. When you are in arrears on support, the state may take a number of steps to force you to pay what you pay, including garnishing your wages and applying your tax refund to your arrearage.

The court can also charge interest on the child support debt you owe. The support you pay continues to go to the person you owed the payments to, presumably the mother of your son. You may not file bankruptcy on your child support arrearages, and the support arrearage will not go away until it is paid in full.

The best way to determine how to eliminate your arrearage is to first check with the Child Support office to determine how much you still owe and ensure that this is the correct amount (calculation errors can be made by the state).

If the amount owed is incorrect from some reason, such as you were held liable for support after your child was declared emancipated by the court or you were held liable for support in an amount different from the court-ordered amount, you may petition the court to fix your child support obligation.

If the amount you owe is correct, then you are obligated to pay that amount in full eventually. You may be able to contact the child support division of the prosecutor's office to discuss settling on your arrearage as well.

Modifying a child support order is so confusing that many guys decided to not even bother with it. This can spell financial disaster. If you are concerned about the amount of child support you owe, it is a good idea to get in touch with a divorce lawyer for men so they can help you figure out your options. A lot of men are hesitant to hire an attorney because it is yet another expense, but failing to do so can leave you left with child support payments you can't afford, so it is best to consider it an investment that will pay off in the long run.

Cordell & Cordell understands the concerns men face during divorce.

If you need help figuring out how to get child support arrears paid, contact one of the divorce attorneys of Cordell & Cordell.

Leslie Lorenzano is a Staff Attorney in the Indianapolis, Indiana office of Cordell & Cordell where she practices domestic relations exclusively. Ms. Lorenzano is licensed in the state of Indiana and the U.S. District Court Sothern District of Indiana. Ms. Lorenzano received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Purdue University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona – James E. Rogers College of Law.

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