Don't Overpay Your Child Support
Monday / September 24, 2007
You won't get any credit for it.
Most of the time, child support complaints center on
the nonpayment or underpayment of child support. But
once in a while, a noncustodial parent will overpay,
or prepay, child support. We're not talking here
about extra money for a band uniform or something
like that, but the routine, month-by-month
overpayment of child support.
In a recent Wyoming case, the father had intentionally paid $50 extra per month on his child support obligation. His object was to go ahead and get the child support paid off ahead of time. The court said that the father acted "with the best of intentions." When the mother requested an increase in child support, the father agreed. But the mother did not agree that the previously overpaid child support could be credited against the father's child support obligation.
Citing cases from a number of jurisdictions, the Wyoming Supreme Court agreed with the mother. The court said the father's job was to pay the child support set out in the divorce decree - no more, no less. In support of its decision, the court said: "Allowing an increase at one time and a reduction at another would simply lead to incongruity and disorder in the child support system."
How this would be so is unclear. The child support system is simply an information clearinghouse into which numbers are input. Perhaps the court's comment is meant to suggest that custodial parents are so irresponsible with money that prepaying child support is unwise.
In a recent Wyoming case, the father had intentionally paid $50 extra per month on his child support obligation. His object was to go ahead and get the child support paid off ahead of time. The court said that the father acted "with the best of intentions." When the mother requested an increase in child support, the father agreed. But the mother did not agree that the previously overpaid child support could be credited against the father's child support obligation.
Citing cases from a number of jurisdictions, the Wyoming Supreme Court agreed with the mother. The court said the father's job was to pay the child support set out in the divorce decree - no more, no less. In support of its decision, the court said: "Allowing an increase at one time and a reduction at another would simply lead to incongruity and disorder in the child support system."
How this would be so is unclear. The child support system is simply an information clearinghouse into which numbers are input. Perhaps the court's comment is meant to suggest that custodial parents are so irresponsible with money that prepaying child support is unwise.
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