What to Do If You Receive Paper Work Asking You to Pay Child Support
Don’t Ignore Papers from a Child Support Agency
Received a Notice from Child Support Agency? If you have received a Summons and Complaint from a county department of child support services in the mail, you have 30 days from when you received it to complete the Answer form included in the packet and file it with your local superior court.
Providing a response to the Answer form is very important; this is your opportunity to ensure your financial and personal circumstances are taken into consideration when an amount for child support is ordered by the court.
While it is rare for some men there is a question regarding whether the child for whom support is being sought is theirs. If you file a response to the department of child support services complaint you can demand a paternity test.
Responding to the Child Support Complaint: To respond to a Notice of Motion ((form FL-680) or an Order to Show Cause(form FL-683), your first step is to fill out a response form and a different form with information about your income and expenses. When you’re done, you file both forms with the court and have a copy delivered to the Department of Child Support Services and the other parent. You will need to fill out a lot of forms. The most important of which are linked below.
- Fill Out These Forms:
- Response to Governmental Notice of Motion or Order to Show Cause (form FL-685)
- Income and Expense Declaration (form FL-150)
How is child support calculated? To learn more about how child support is calculated read this article.
- File Your Legal Papers at Court:
- First make 3 copies of the forms you have prepared.
- Next bring them to the court identified on the top of the pleadings and file them. There’s no charge to file a response to a department of child support services complaint.
- Serve Your Legal Papers on the Department and the Other Parent :
- After you file your papers, you must have a copy delivered to the Local Child Support Agency and the child’s other parent. You do this by having someone, 18 or over, deliver a copy of the court papers to both of them. The person who delivers the papers is your server. You can’t be the server. Pro tip: Just have anyone over eighteen fill out the proof of service and drop the pleadings in the mail for you. It’s the easiest. If for some reason you want to personally serve the documents, you can accompany your server to personally serve them. Just remember that under the law you cannot be the server of your pleadings.
- After the server hand delivers or mails the papers, they need to fill out and sign a Proof of Service form. If your server mailed the papers, you can use Proof of Service by Mail (form FL-335) If your server hand-delivered, you can use Proof of Personal Service (form FL-330)
- Deadlines to Serve: This is important. Your server must deliver the papers at least 9 court days before your hearing. A court day is a day the court is open (not weekends or court holidays). If your server mails your papers, your server should mail your papers at least 5 regular days before the service deadline. If they live far away, your server should mail it even sooner.
- File the Proof of Service at Court: Make a copy of the signed form and file the original with the court before your hearing.
- Go to Court on Your Hearing Day
- Remember the Child Support Agency is only concerned with child support. If you want child custody orders you have to file a paternity petition case separate from the Child Support Agency case. Click the links for more information on a paternity petition and on how the court determines what child custody should be.
If you want help preparing your papers. Contact Mr. Gentry for a free consultation.
Galen Gentry assists clients in Los Angeles and Southern California with issues relating child support. Mr. Gentry has 30 years of experience and can help people protect their families and their interests.
Call us to schedule a free consultation at 310 282 7521 or contact us here.