As you know, all parents are responsible for the well-being of their children – and that involves financial responsibility. However, military parents do have a particular commitment to provide for their families. And when it comes to child support. It’s best to consult with an experienced child support attorney for the best legal recourse.

If you are a service member or the other parent of your child is in the military, it’s vital that you know what the child support rules are. While a child support attorney can help you navigate this situation, you’ll feel more at ease when you know the child support rules and how they apply to you and your family.

When is child support necessary?

Child support is crucial when both the parents are no longer in a relationship with each other, not living together, or no longer officially married.

When two people are no longer together, yet they have a child or children together, they still will have to share parenting duties. This scenario means the parents will share the financial responsibility of raising and providing for their child.

Whether one of the parents has sole custody and the other one is allowed visitation rights, or if both the parents share custody of the child, both parents are still going to be financially responsible for the child.

Child support laws have one sole purpose: help the child get whatever he or she needs in order to thrive in life.

Child support is not meant to support the custodial parent. In some scenarios, the noncustodial parent will be required by the court to pay child support.

In other cases, the parent who is earning more may be required by the law to pay additional support for the well-being of the child.

Of course, every situation is different, as is the case for military families. So, when it comes to child support, to ensure that your child is getting what is best for him or her, get in touch with a child support attorney.

How do you calculate child support payments?

Normally, child support payments are computed based on the earnings of both spouses, what the child’s needs are, and other essential factors based on the specific situation of the family. However, it may take the courts, with the information provided by the child support attorney and the spouses, to come up with the sufficient figures.

In the case of military families, servicemember parents are still obligated to give child support payments even before the court declares an official child support arrangement.

These compensations are called interim child support and designed for the benefit of the children.

The payments usually go to the nonmilitary custodial parent, who is obligated to use the funds to support the children before the court issues a formal child support order.

To help you arrive at a reasonable child support payment terms, seek the legal guidance of a child support attorney.

Interim Child Support

Not all military branches are the same. However, the basic rules for interim child support are universal.  All service members are obligated to give child support payments even before an official court order is issued.

The child support payments are influenced by the military member’s Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and their gross income. If a military parent neglects this obligation, a child support attorney will advise the other parent to send a notice to the commanding officer of their ex-military spouse. The military parent will then get punished for not paying child support.

Adhering to the Court Orders

Once there is an official child support court order, the previous interim child support rule ordered by the military will not take effect anymore. Going forward, child support payments are handled similarly as they would for other nonmilitary parents.

However, determining child support payments could be more complicated if the military parent is deployed. This makes it more difficult to access the deployed military parent’s bank account back home.

In this scenario, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service can make a payment arrangement.

This can make automatic withdrawals with the appropriate amount from the servicemember’s regular pay.

Final Words

If you are a servicemember or your ex-spouse is one, you must know how child support payments are affected by the military law. To better understand your situation, consult with a family law or child support attorney for legal advice.

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