Monday, September 26, 2011

How do I get Child Support in Montana?

Child support is money paid from one parent to the other to provide care for any minor children.  Child support can be ordered by a court or an administrative agency such as CSED, the Montana Child Support Enforcement Division.

1) By a court
If the parties have minor children, child support must be ordered as part of a court-ordered parenting plan.  Your lawyer can calculate this for you using a computer software program and include it in your parenting plan for you.  This means that when a final parenting plan is established (see future blogs about parenting plans), the District Court will also order one or both parties to pay child support.
If the parties already have a valid Child Support and Medical Support Order, the court can just refer to that and deem it valid.

2) By CSED
You can also elect to get a Child Support calculation through CSED (MT Child Support Enforcement Division) rather than through a dissolution action through a court. CSED will calculate your child support for free, so this is a good way to save money.  However, keep in mind that they use a certain format for everyone, so there are advantages to having a lawyer calculate this for you to allow for more flexibility for you and your ex.

If you would like CSED to do your calculations, you need to contact them to request application materials.  Application materials are available on their website:
Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

CSED has different field offices around the state of Montana.  Region 5 is Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, and Sanders counties.  Their office is located in Missoula.  They can be contacted at: (406) 329-7910.  Their address is: 2675 Palmer Street, Suite C.

Child Support is not something to take lightly.  It is an important factor that will affect your and your child's life post-divorce.

For more information on calculating Child Support for your minor children, please contact me.  I, or other family law attorneys can calculate this for you.

Please keep in mind, too, if you need child support calculated, and this is the only thing that you need done, limited scope representation is available.  Please see my blog on this topic: Limited Scope Representation.  This means that a lawyer can just do these calculations for you for a fee instead of having a lawyer represent you on all aspects of your case.

See my blog on how Child Support is calculated.

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