Much can change for a parent after a divorce. This is especially true of a parent’s financial circumstances. For example, a parent in Oklahoma could get a job promotion, leading to an increase in income. Or, a parent could be laid off, leading to a decrease in income. In addition, the costs involved in raising a child may vary based on the child’s needs. When there is a child support order in place, these fluctuations in a parent’s finances could majorly affect the parent’s ability to raise the child. For all these reasons, parents may choose to pursue a modification of child support. It is important, then, to ascertain when such a modification may be approved.

Either parent could request a child support modification. The paying parent may have experienced a change in income that makes it difficult for that parent to keep up with the current support agreement. Or the receiving parent’s financial needs may change with regards to raising the child. For example, a change in child care needs could affect how much money that parent needs to cover child care costs. These are only a couple of examples of situations that may lead a parent to request a child support modification.

If the child support order is more than one year old and the parent’s case was not reviewed during the past year, a parent can present his or her case worker with a modification request in writing. After that, financial affidavits will be sent by the case worker to each parent. These affidavits will be used when making the determination as to whether there should be a modification of the current child support order. If it is shown that the newly calculated amount of child support is over 20 percent different from the current order for child support, the requested changes may be made. This could lead to either a decrease or an increase in child support owed.

As this shows, certain steps must be taken to officially change the amount of child support owed. Parents who want to modify a child support order may want to make sure they understand each step they need to take to obtain a legally binding modification.