While ending a marriage may have been the best choice for a particular Colorado family, it does not necessarily mean that the divorced adults will never deal with each other again. This is particularly true if the former couple have children together. Often, parents remain tied to one another after ending the marriage due to custody arrangements as well as certain financial obligations, such as child support.
Though you may have gotten a divorce some time ago, you may still make monthly child support payments to the other parent. While you have had no issue with following the court order until now, certain changes in your life may have you wondering whether a modification to your order, or even stopping payments altogether, may suit your new circumstances.
Stopping child support payments
Support modifications are not unheard of, but it is important to know that a judge will not grant a modification for just any reason. In fact, a significant change of circumstances must have occurred, and the court must see evidence of that change and how it affects the child support matter. Some valid reasons support payments may come to an end include the following:
- Your financial circumstances have changed in a negative way, such as losing your job or facing a serious emergency that resulted in financial hardship.
- You and your ex-spouse decide to get back together, thus eliminating the need for you to pay separate support. In such a case, however, the other parent would need to inform the court that he or she no longer wants to receive payments.
- The other parent saw a positive change in financial circumstances that lessens the need for child support, such as getting a higher-paying job or receiving a significant inheritance.
Your financial circumstances and those of the other parent play a critical part in child support orders. If a court reviews the situation after a request for modification, a judge may or may not choose to grant a change to the current terms.
There is work ahead
If you hope to stop payments, you may want to keep in mind that the court has the best interests of the children in mind, and often, the court believes that the more financial support children have, the better off they will be. As a result, you will likely have to defend your desire to stop payments. However, it is important to remember that you have legal rights and options as a parent. If modifying a support order seems necessary, gaining more information on that possibility may be beneficial.