When the relationship between a husband and wife deteriorates past the point of no return, the dissolution of marriage is almost inevitable. A divorce proceeding can cause considerable distress and trauma to the parties involved, and the discomfort may be further compounded in situations where one or more children are involved, which may, in turn, give rise to disputes involving custody of the children or the quantum or duration of child support to be paid.
While deciding a dispute involving child support, the court usually tries to keep in mind a variety of factors, but the ultimate factors are the best interests of the child. Under certain circumstances, the parent who is not selected as the primary custodian of the child needs to pay the ex-spouse a certain predetermined sum of money as child support. This can be used to meet the day-to-day expenses incurred on behalf of the child, such as education costs and medical expenses. While deciding the amount of child support to be paid, the court keeps into consideration the relative income of the parents too.
The authorities consider it a serious offense if a parent defaults on the child support is payable, or if someone fraudulently obtains a greater amount of child support than is actually necessary. This is something that a woman in Texas may find out to her detriment after her elder daughter has accused her of having manipulated the system to receive child support for her younger daughter despite the latter not staying with her for almost a decade. It is the elder daughter who has been acting as the legal guardian of her younger sister for quite some time, but the law required the father to make the child support payments to the mother instead of the elder daughter. However, the mother has not been around for either of her daughters for quite some time. This situation seems to be a prime example of how a matter involving child support can get complicated owing to the varying dictates of the law relating.
