Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

142 Judy Reichler
very low order will be entered. Did they eat out a lot when they were together?
Take expensive vacations? Have expensive clothes or furnishings for the house?
Can she prove it? Does he have any other children? If so, is he providing child
support for them?
This information will alert you to the possibility that the father has a marginal
income and really can’t even take care of himself. You may have a client who
cannot prove her figures or is up against someone who has hidden or shielded his
income and assets so that it would be prohibitively costly to pursue enforcement.
When You Decide Not to Seek Child Support
Even when child support may be of immense assistance, it will sometimes
be better to forego it — at least until the possibility of danger has been reduced.
Whenever a decision is made not to pursue child support, however, every attempt
should be made to assure that the reasons are valid, and not the result of the
client’s — or the attorney’s — timidity or unfounded fear.
First, determine if it is possible to overcome any obstacles so that support
can safely be obtained for the child. If not, make sure nothing is done that would
eliminate the possibility of seeking support later, if circumstances change. For
example, don’t let your client enter into an agreement foregoing child support.
Even though this may not be strictly enforceable, it will require a showing of a
change of circumstances to get support at a later date. If an agreement is signed,
a better practice would be to provide that child support is not requested “at this
time,” but that it may be sought later “without the necessity of showing a change
of circumstances.”
If the Mother Is Receiving Public Assistance
Benefits
If your client is receiving, or applying for, public benefits, there will be some
overlap with child support. A custodial parent applying for public assistance is
required to assign support rights to the state, 2 which will pursue the “absent
parent” for child support to recoup some, or all, of the cost. This will be true
even if the mother or the child receives only Medicaid.
There are several benefits to this arrangement. The first is that she will
receive consistent payments of public assistance whether or not the agency is
able to obtain child support from the father. Another is that she will receive the