Understanding Modifications To Child Support After A Divorce Decree in NY State Law

So in 2010, a new law went into effect in New York that provided three specific circumstances under which child support can be modified. And those (circumstances) are: a substantial change in circumstance, number 2 is a change in either party’s income by 15% or more, or finally, after three years have passed, either party may then request an adjustment. So this makes it a little simpler for parents in this situation.

 

The old law was only in a substantial change of circumstance. So often people would include in their settlement agreements that they would exchange income information every year for example. And that placed a burden on those parents especially when they may be starting their new lives and they may have a new spouse or partner, and they don’t want to disclose income or income of their partner. So therefore this new law does provide parameters for that. And it does make it a little simpler. It is there for the parent who also loses a job for example, through no fault of his or her own, or retires, for example. In those cases that parent needs to show good cause for the loss of job, and sometimes a judge or support magistrate may impute income to that parent if the parent voluntarily takes on a lower paying job. But again, there’s many different scenarios that can occur. And sometimes parents can work it out between themselves, however it may be more beneficial to put it in writing or have a court order or if you do need to go to court then you are leaving it to a judge to decide. So there are many different possibilities here, and I invite you to go to our website www.gfrllp.com to learn more.