California law generally entitles you (Mom or Dad) to a recalculation of child support where any one of the following is true:

1. You have had one or more new children (not including stepchildren);

2. Your income has gone down (or your ex’s has gone up);

3. Your custody percentage has gone up; and/or

4. Your original computation was wrong.

In one of our cases, Dad was under a Court Order to pay $700/ month. Over several years, his custody percentage went up and his income went down. Meanwhile, Mom’s income increased substantially.

We ran a recalculation and it showed that instead of paying $700 per month, Dad should be receiving $500 per month. We were then able to get this done within several weeks.

If you believe that you may be entitled to a modification, it is important that you note that modifications are NOT retroactive !!!

In the above example, Dad would have actually been entitled to the modification at least a year earlier. But, because he waited, he suffered a financial loss of over $12,000.

Again, because modifications are not retroactive, the Court could not make any adjustment to compensate Dad for not filing earlier.

If you believe that you may be entitled to legal relief, you may set up a consultation by emailing us or calling (310) 479-2441.