Child Support

In order to file for support or to file for modification of an existing support order you will need to go to the Domestic Relations Office and file the appropriate form. Call ahead because some counties may charge a fee to file an initial Complaint or a Petition for Modification.

A support conference is a meeting with a neutral county employee whose job is to attempt to either obtain an agreement or to produce a recommendation for the Court. If the parties cannot agree to a support amount the conference officer may tell you the recommended amount before you leave the conference, or they may take the matter under advisement and mail the recommended order to the parties a few days later.

If the parties are unable to agree to a support amount at the time of the conference or if either party disagrees with the amount recommended by the conference officer, the case may be listed for a hearing de novo. Depending on the county this hearing is either with a Judge or someone appointed by the Judge (usually called a master or hearing officer).

If the hearing is with a judge, the judge will typically issue a final order within a few days. If the hearing is with a master of hearing officer, a recommended order will be issued in a few days.

If and only if the hearing de novo was before a master or a hearing officer and the hearing officer makes a legal error in calculating child support, you or your attorney can take exceptions to the recommendation and ask for a judge to review the decision of the master or hearing officer.

After a judge makes a final decision in your case, you have 30 days to appeal the decision to a higher court. A higher court will not reconsider the facts of your case, it will only review the judge’s decision to determine if the judge made any legal errors.