Child Support and Informal Payment

In most cases, when a child is brought into this world, the parents are excited and have great hopes and dreams.  However, in some cases, the parents are not married or the marriage ends in a divorce.  The child still must be cared for and sometimes the courts have to get involved.

When a parent who is ordered to pay child support pays by cash, there is no record of the payment itself.  There are many cases where the parent who received the cash may state they have never received the cash payment whether they have forgotten the payment months or years after, or they might even try to deceive the other party.

The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) is responsible for overseeing the collection of child support.  More often than not, they will not credit child support payment made by cash.  Therefore it is advantageous to utilize a system that payments can be verified.  The OAG will want to see a check to make the verification.  The only way to get credit for cash payments is to rely on the other party to sign an affidavit acknowledging receipt of payment.   In Texas, child support should be paid by a wage withholding order. When there is a wage withholding order, the OAG can verify the payment was made.

Sometimes when an infant is born, many unmarried fathers want to help because they love and care about their child.  There might not even be a child support order in place, but the father buys diapers, formula, clothing, baby furniture and other tangible items for the child.  This act of buying these items shows that the father cares, but it is also done to help support the child.  However, if the OAG or court system later gets involved, it can be tough to receive credit for the tangible items that were bought for the child.  It is very important that the unmarried father keeps all of their receipts on record to submit to the court months or years later.  When this happens, many unmarried fathers can find themselves very far behind on their child support with little or no credit given for the items they bought for their child in good faith. For unmarried fathers, a large child support amount owed can be problematic and hard if not impossible to repay.

It will be vital for the unmarried fathers to write a check with “child support” on the memo line.  This is important even if there is no order yet.  With this money, the mother can then buy the necessary items that help support the child.  Today, there are lots of great applications out there where money can be sent as well. Applications like Zelle, PayPal, and Venmo are three applications where an unmarried father can send money to the mother and memorize that the purpose is for child support.  Then, when the child support authorities question whether child support has been paid, it can be easy to either produce the check or the verification within the application that money was sent for child support. In these circumstances, it is much more likely that the father gets credit for what was paid.

Having an attorney with the resources and knowledge to give you the best representation is vital to your interest and the interest of your family.  You also want to make sure they will exhaust all avenues and be willing to research, pursue and implement strategies to provide the best possible outcome.

 

Rob McAngus, Partner with Verner Brumley Parker, P.C., is Board Certified in family Law and his practice is devoted primarily to family law, including high conflict divorce, custody cases, and complex property issues. In addition to being selected on the Board of Directors for the Family Law Section of the Dallas Bar Association; he values your priorities as a parent and works with you to achieve the goals that will help transition your family to a new normal.  As both an adopted child and a member of a blended family, Rob can provide a unique perspective in the practice of family law.

Rob has been recognized in Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in 2016 through 2020, Best Lawyers, and recently The National Advocates recognized Rob as one of the Top 40 Under 40.  He can be reached by calling 214.526.5234 or email at rmcangus@vernerbrumley.com.  Mr. McAngus received his bachelor’s degree cum laude and master’s degree from Baylor University and graduated cum laude from the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University.