If you were injured at your place of employment and suddenly found out you were not going to be able to work for a while, chances are the first concern you have is finances, primarily your child support payments. Your income will be negatively impacted and your financial obligations will become more stressful. 
There are several ways to deal with child support when a reduction in income and sustaining an injury occurs. Handling this type of situation does not have to be stressful. In fact, an experienced and knowledgeable child support attorney can help ensure the process runs smoothly.
It is absolutely essential you contact a child support attorney as soon as you can after your injury to prevent any unnecessary complications with your support order.
Disability Insurance Benefits
It is highly likely that your employer has workers’ compensation insurance. This insurance pays for a portion of the employee’s wages when they are unable to work due to an injury or incident that occurred at the place of business or within the scope of employment.
The amount you will receive if your employer offers workers’ compensation insurance will probably be less than your usual paycheck. However, your child support attorney will remind you that child support is based on income, and if your income drops, this may be grounds for a child support modification.
If your child support attorney is able to win a request for child support modification, although your child support will not stop, your payment will go down.
Timing of the Disability
The length of time you are off of work will be a factor in the child support modification hearing. Typically the court will award a temporary modification in child support. This means that the decrease in child support will only last for the duration of the injury. Once you are healed, the child support will return to the previous amount.
If your injury is determined to be a medically-permanent injury, then your child support payments will be reduced and be based on the income you are receiving from disability insurance and any other source.
Wage Garnishment
If you suddenly stop paying your child support without warning or are several months behind, the other parent can request a wage garnishment through your employer.
The family court system takes child support payments very seriously, when a parent is neglecting that duty, a portion of the parent’s paycheck can be set aside before the parent receives it, and sent to the other parent as child support.
In addition, social security benefits can also be garnished if support falls behind. The system has been created to make nonpayment of child support very difficult – if not impossible.
Free Consultation with a Tulsa Child Support Attorney
A child support attorney will advise you that the worst thing you can do is stop paying child support and leave the other parent in the dark about your condition.
Having a child support attorney that is skilled in workers’ compensation and disability cases will help you gather the correct documents, emphasize points that judges are likely to consider when ruling on a modification of child support, and walk you through step-by-step of the process.
Hiring an experienced child custody attorney will ensure the process is expertly conducted and your interests are well represented.
Contact an experienced Tulsa divorce attorney when you need to go through the Oklahoma relocation process.
For a free confidential consultation, call now: 918-924-5526.
