You love your children, and you want to make sure they have everything they need. Unfortunately, the child support that you’re being asked to pay is just too high. If you pay it, you may not be able to pay your own bills, and you certainly wouldn’t be able to do anything special for your children when they’re in your care.
This kind of situation can be upsetting, and it shouldn’t happen. Parents who owe support should not have to pay more than they can afford and still live comfortably.
Connecticut does have fairly strict guidelines for support, which means that most families will see a similar outcome based on their incomes and other factors. However, some may need to stray from the guidelines because of external factors, like living with an illness or losing a job.
What do you do if you can’t afford the support payments you were ordered to make?
In Connecticut, there are guidelines for setting up child support. They are formulaic, which means that you will need to show good reason for straying from that set standard if you don’t agree with it. If you can’t afford to pay or want to look into changing your child support obligation, then you do need to go to court to argue your case.
If you have lost your job or had a major change in your circumstances, then provide documentation to your attorney to help build your modification request case. If you can show that you are willing to pay but need to change the amount due to a change in your life, then the judge may be willing to alter the payment requirements for you.
