Nassau County child support lawyers
In Nassau County, as throughout the state of New York, all matters relating to child support are handled by the Family Court system. This is a unique and challenging area of the law that relies heavily on the existing body of case law. Not every lawyer is equipped to handle Family Court cases. In order to ensure that you have the best possible chance of coming out ahead in your child support hearing, the first thing that you should do is to hire an experienced and skilled attorney that specializes in family law and child support cases, in particular.
Our law offices have just these typces of lawyers. With some of our family law attorneys having decades of experience and a winning track record comprised of hundreds of successfully presented cases, there is no one better in Manhattan to handle your child support issues.
Never make the mistake of blowing off a child support proceeding
The best way to affect a positive outcome on any child support actions being taken against you is to get the best lawyer you can find involved in the process, as early as possible. All too often, we see non-custodial parents who are seeking help well after the most effective moves should have been made in their cases. The truth is that once a child support order has been passed down from the Family Court, it can be extremely difficult to get it reversed or even modified.
But there is an even more pressing reason to take child support hearings as seriously as you would if you were on trial for a capital crime. All child support orders handed down from the Family Courts are legally binding upon the parties until the child in question has reached the age of 21. This means that in the majority of cases, in which the parent of an infant or newborn baby is seeking the imposition of court-ordered child support payments, the non-custodial parent will be legally bound to comply with the payment schedule for two decades or more.
But it is even more serious than this. Any child support arrears that accrue due to non-payment or delayed payment will not ever be forgiven. And the State of New York views child support as a criminal matter. In fact, the non-payment of child support is not just a serious misdemeanor in the state of New York, if the amount exceeds $10,000, it can become a federal felony.
In practice, this means that we see non-custodial parents, usually but not always fathers, ending up in jail five or even ten years after their children have reached the age of 21. This is because debts to the state based on child support, even if the majority of the money is fines and fees, are never forgiven and are considered a criminal matter. The result is that many non-custodial parents don’t truly free themselves of the New York court system until 30 years or more after the initial child support was court ordered.
These are just a few of the reasons that it is absolutely imperative to hire a seasoned lawyer to help you in your fight for an equitable child support decision. A good lawyer can help you achieve a settlement that won’t leave you broke or living on a shoestring budget. A competent attorney can also help uncover and bring to light any reasons that your payment should be lower than the guidelines may otherwise suggest, such as the expenses of running your own business or the fact that the custodial parent may not have fully disclosed the extent of their own income.
In the end, a skilled lawyer who specializes in family law is your best bet.