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Raising kids here in Louisiana or elsewhere can be challenging enough for two-parent households these days, and even more challenging for one-parent households. If you have children and your relationship with the other parent ends, you face working out child custody and child support arrangements. As you move through the process of establishing child support, you may encounter one or more of the following issues.

You may not be able to find the other parent, and you may need some help doing so. In the alternative, you may not know how much the other parent receives as income. If he or she is unwilling to provide that information, you may need the court to order the other party to provide it.

In some cases, the primary custodian of the children fails to cash the child support checks. This may seem odd to some, but it does happen. The parent responsible for making the payments should not assume that he or she is free to spend the money, however. Even though the obligation is considered paid, the other parent may at some point want the money, and keeping it in a separate account for that eventuality could save the paying parent unnecessary complications.

Presumably, if you decide on a joint or shared custody arrangement, you will not have the above issues. However, there are cases where no child support is ordered because each parent has the children a relatively equal amount of time. It may be possible for one parent to receive child support in these cases if one makes less money than the other does.

These issues may temporarily complicate your child support issues, but they can more than likely be resolved. A Louisiana family law attorney could be invaluable under these circumstances. He or she may advise you of your rights and responsibilities and help you resolve these issues.

Source: thespruce.com, “Child Support Laws“, Debrina Washington, Accessed on Oct. 14, 2017