There are many legitimate reasons for believing your current child support obligations are unfair or overly burdensome. And there are steps you can take to have your payments legally reduced by a New Mexico family court judge if you find yourself in this scenario.
Seeking a modification to your payment plan requires you to jump through a few legal hoops, and wait for a court to hear your case, but it is well worth the effort. The alternative — unilaterally deciding to stop or reduce your child support payments — has some serious negative consequences.
As a seasoned family law attorney in the Albuquerque area, Bob Matteucci has seen first hand how badly it can backfire when someone tinkers with their child support payments without court approval.
Why It’s Important for Parents in Albuquerque to Take Their Child Support Obligations Seriously
While love alone sustains the emotional bond between you and your child, financial support is necessary to meet your child’s physical needs. When parents in Albuquerque fail to make their required child support payments, the state of New Mexico can view it as a form of physical neglect or negligence.
Because child support orders are legally binding — just like a business contract — disregarding them can have severe financial, legal, and personal consequences. New Mexico’s Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) and state court judges in the Albuquerque area impose significant penalties if you fail to meet your child support obligations.
Parents in Albuquerque Face Serious Consequences for Refusing to Make Child Support Payments
Parents who choose to withhold child support payments can face a number of different legal and financial penalties:
- Contempt of Court: Child support payments are a court-ordered obligation. Failure to pay puts you in contempt of court, and judges in the Albuquerque area are not hesitant to hand out hefty fines or even jail time for such behavior.
- Wage Garnishment: The parent who is supposed to receive child support payments can file a Request for Wage Withholding with the courts. If that request is granted, the Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) will garnish the paying parent’s wages and send that money to the receiving parent. Once an order has been issued, it will stay in place regardless of whether the paying parent changes jobs.
- Asset Seizure: If a parent who withholds child support is not a W2 earner, or has fallen significantly behind on payments, the CSED may seize funds directly from bank accounts or take other liquid assets to make support payments.
- Tax Refund Interception: Both federal and state tax refunds can be intercepted and applied toward unpaid child support.
- Property Liens: Just like other creditors, a parent who is owed back child support can ask a court to place a lien on any real estate owned by a debtor. These liens make it nearly impossible to sell or refinance the property until the debt is satisfied.
- License Suspension: Falling behind on child support can lead to suspension of a parent’s driver’s license, professional licenses, and even recreational licenses, such as for hunting or fishing.
- Passport Denial: Parents who are significantly behind on child support payments may be denied a passport, or have their existing passport revoked, restricting their ability to travel internationally.
- Credit Damage: Nonpayment is typically reported to credit agencies, which can hurt a parent’s credit score and make it harder to secure future loans.
- Interest on Unpaid Support: New Mexico imposes interest on overdue child support, which can exponentially increase a parent’s total payment obligation.
And it is important to note that these risks don’t end when your child turns 18. Parents can be held responsible for back payments — and any interest that has accrued — for years.
Beyond the Legal and Financial Risks of Nonpayment
It is also worth pointing out that there are social and psychological risks associated with nonpayment as well.
In New Mexico, official court records are not difficult to access. If they want to, nosey neighbors, a new love interest, or a potential business partner could run a background check and find out you have been held in contempt for failure to make child support payments. Even if you are otherwise a candidate for parent of the year, seeing you have a history of nonpayment may sway an outsider’s opinion about your trustworthiness and financial solvency.
Children can also pick up on their parent’s reluctance to make child support payments. In their mind they can equate nonpayment with your opinion of them. This can have a negative, lasting impact on their self-esteem and destroy their sense of self-worth. It may also strain the relationship you have with your child if they think you do not care for them.
All of this can be avoided by seeking a reduction in child support through the legal system instead of taking matters into your own hands.
Albuquerque Parents Can Take Steps to Reduce Their Child Support Payments
Your life, your former partner’s life, and your child’s life have all changed since your child support order was put into place. If that change has been significant, it is only right that your child support order should change as well.
Requesting a child support modification is a straightforward legal process, and Attorney Bob Matteucci can work with you to craft a revised agreement that ensures your child’s needs are met without overtaxing your finances.
Serving Families with Dignity & Compassion
If your child support order no longer matches your lifestyle, it may be time to seek a modification to ensure you and your child’s needs are being met. But parents in the Albuquerque area should weigh the risks for deciding to make such a change on their own accord. There are serious legal, financial, and social consequences that come with nonpayment of child support.
Albuquerque area parents who are interested in reducing their child support obligations should work with an experienced family law attorney like Attorney Bob Matteucciwho knows what steps to take to have payments legally reduced.
Bob can help you craft a child support payment plan that complements your child custody agreement and matches your family’s current experiences, values, and goals. Contact the Matteucci Family Law Firm today to set up a meeting and discuss your case.