Child Support : How To Modify Child Support In California By Agreement

Whenever I get a call from someone who wants to modify child support as part of their California divorce case, I always first start out by asking if their spouse would be in agreement to the modification.

The reason I do this is because there is a very simple way of modifying child support in your California divorce case if you can come to an agreement. This is called filing a Stipulation & Order to modify child support.

Yes, it can be as simple as filing an agreement with the court known as a Stipulation which simply means “agreement”.

It seems people are not familiar with this process and is why I am writing about it today. When most people call about modifying child support the first thing they are talking about is “going to court” by filing a Request For Order which is a motion you file with the court to obtain a hearing to have a judge make a decision on the modification.

So I always ask our clients if they might be able to come to an agreement.

We start by running the numbers through the dissomaster program the court uses to determine child support. I then ask the parties to review the calculation so they can see what the new child support numbers look like.

If the parties can agree on a new child support amount, we simply draft the stipulation, the parties sign it and then we submit it to court for the judge to sign. The stipulations to modify child support will become the new order and supersedes the previous order or judgment in your divorce case.

Of course, you need to make sure to also change or modify your income withholding order as well if that has been filed and served on your employer. If an income withholding order (FL-195) has been filed, we will file both the stipulation to modify child support and the modification of the income withholding order at the same time to speed things up.

If you need assistance with modifying your child support give me a call so we can run the numbers to see what the new child support amount would be. If you and your spouse can come to an agreement on the new amount of child support we will draft the child support modification stipulation.

If you guys do not come to an agreement, we can also help you file a Request For Order to modify child support based upon a change in circumstances which is usually something to do with a chance in income of one of the parties or change in custody and visitation time that would effect the amount of child support to be paid or received.