To get child support in California for your children, you must get a child support order. To get a child support order, a parent must ask for a court order from the court or from a local child support agency.
How this is done depends on whether you already have a family court case that involves both of the child’s parents or if you are starting a case for the first time.
The process of getting a child support order can be complicated. Here, you should try to get help if you can before you try to complete this process on your own without assistance from a lawyer.
How you go about getting a child support order may depend on whether you are married to the other parent or have a registered domestic partnership. If both parents are married or have a registered domestic partnership, child support orders can be asked for if there is a divorce, legal separation, or annulment, if there is a domestic violence restraining order, if there is a petition for custody and support of minor children, or if there is a local child support agency case. Once you have started one of these cases, you can ask for child support order.
If you are not married to the other parent and do not have a registered domestic partnership, you can ask for a child support order if there is a paternity case, if there is a domestic violence restraining order, if there is a petition for custody and support of minor children, or if there is a local child support agency case.
To insure that you have the best chance of success with you child support order, contact SmartLaw to be referred to a qualified child support attorney in Southern California. (866)SMARTLAW, SmartLaw.org.
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