After getting a divorce in North Carolina, you have a chance to start over with a new romantic relationship. When this happens, you might decide to get remarried. It’s understandable to wonder if this life change will alter the child support payments you’re currently receiving. Here’s a closer look at how remarrying could trigger a change in child support.
Child support and getting remarried
In most cases, getting remarried won’t impact whether you continue receiving child support payments. This is because courts consider child support matters to be between a child’s legal parents. Courts won’t factor your new spouse’s income into whether you’ll continue receiving child support.
Requesting a modification
While remarriage and child support don’t typically affect one other, there are exceptions to this rule. A parent does have the right to request that child support payments be modified.
Certain changing circumstances can alter child support payment amounts. One example of this would be if a parent got remarried and chose to stop working. In this case, the court could base the non-working parent’s income calculation on what they could be earning if they chose to work.
Another situation that could impact child support is if your new spouse legally adopts your children. However, this could only happen if your ex relinquishes their rights as a parent. Understandably, most parents involved in their children’s lives won’t choose this option.
Getting remarried usually doesn’t mean that child support payments end or get reduced, but some life changes can lead to one parent requesting a child support modification. If their requests are valid, the courts can alter the payment amounts.