Once you have been awarded child support, your work or your attorney’s work is not over, especially if you want to appeal your child support award. The court often requests that the child support order be drafted by the prevailing party. This task can be treacherous for the unwary. The state’s appellate courts have overturned child support orders due to their lack of specificity.
More particularly, the court’s conclusions of law must be based on factual findings indicating that the court took “due regard” of the estates, earnings, conditions, accustomed standard of living of the child and the parties, the child care and homemaker contributions of each party, and other facts of the particular case. In addition, should the court deviate from the Guidelines, findings must be made as to the factors supporting deviation from the presumptive amount.
