Indiana Child Support Credits – South Bend Child Support Lawyer

Posted on September 29, 2011 by jeffhaupt

When considering a child support action, Indiana Courts require that a child support worksheet be submitted. The child support worksheet includes information such as income, health insurance expenses, overnight visitation credits, etc., to give an amount of recommended child support.

What information does the child support worksheet consider besides income?

Prior Child Support Orders – If you are paying child support for another child and that child is older than the child in question, then the child support worksheet allows for a deduction in your weekly gross income for purposes of calculating child support. For example, let’s say your gross income is $500 per week (before any deductions). Now if you have a child support order for an older child, then that will be subtracted from the $500 per week. If you have a $75 per week child support order, then the amount of “income” you have for purposes of calculating child support for the second child is $425 per week.

Subsequent Child Credit – If you have a younger child that you are legally responsible for, or that you have a child support order for and you are paying that order, then the child support worksheet will also provide a deduction from your weekly gross income. The deduction is a percentage of the weekly income and that percentage is based on the number of children you have.

Health Insurance Premiums – The child support worksheet also has a section for child related health insurance premiums. This is any amount you pay for health insurance for the child in question. So if you have employer provided benefits and you are paying $50 per week for this benefit to cover both you and your child, then you would receive a credit based on whatever the child’s portion costs.

These are a few of the deductions that can occur in a child support worksheet. These deductions may raise or increase the amount of child support depending on whether the custodial or the non-custodial parent is taking the deduction.

if you have questions about child support or a child support modification, please contact me.

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, and child custody, criminal defense matters, DUIs, theft charges, license suspensions, and for Bankruptcy. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so. DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

Indiana Divorce Residency Requirements – South Bend Divorce Lawyer

Posted on September 25, 2011 by jeffhaupt

Filing for a divorce in Indiana? There are a few things that you need to be aware of before moving forward on your divorce. One of those issues deals with how long you have resided in Indiana and the county in which you will file.

Indiana Code 31-15-2-6 requires that one of the parties must have been a resident in Indiana for at least six months proceeding the filing of a divorce petition. Furthermore, one of the parties must have also been a resident of the county where the petition was filed for a period of three months proceeding the filing of the divorce petition.

Even if you are a resident of Indiana and file for divorce in Indiana, the Court could still be limited to what can be done in the divorce case. For instance, issues involving children are generally resolved where the children live (or at least have lived for the past six months). Property issues can also be problematic for property and a spouse outside the jurisdiction of Indiana.

if you need help with your divorce and your spouse is out of state, contact me for a free consultation.

Uncontested Divorce – Have an agreement on all your divorce issues?

Posted on September 18, 2011 by jeffhaupt

What is an uncontested divorce? An uncontested divorce is a divorce where there are no issues that need to be litigated. Essentially, it is an agreement on everything.

How is an uncontested divorce handled in the court?

If you and your spouse truly have an agreement on all issues, then you may be able to complete your divorce without ever stepping foot in a courtroom. You would still need to file your divorce petition and either have your spouse waive service of summons or you would need t oserve your spouse with a summons on the divorce. After 60 days have passed then you can file a waiver of final hearing with the court and a divorce settlement agreement.

To be certain, that is a quick summary of an uncontested divorce, but it gives you an idea of how the process works. If you have children or property, you may have other things that you need to deal with, such as child support worksheets, coparenting classes, quit claim deeds, etc.

How much money can an uncontested divorce save me?

Quite a bit! If you truly have an agreement on your divorce, my law office can help you complete your divorce for as little as $399. This is not me simply creating your divorce forms, but actually representing you filing all of initial divorce documents, meeting with you and your spouse to make sure that you truly have an agreement, and then filing your divorce agreement with the Court, thereby saving your time and money.

if you have questions about an uncontested divorce, contact me today.

Divorce Without Going to Court – Indiana Divorce Lawyer

Posted on September 16, 2011 by jeffhaupt

Courts in Indiana is pushing more and more parties and attorneys to work out family law matters outside of the courtroom. There are several theories as to why this is better than having parties argue or litigate out their differences. One fact as to why this could be better in your situation is that by working out your differences in a divorce negotiation or mediation and settling all of your issues you can avoid any court appearance. This can save you time, hassle, and money as you do not have to pay for attorney court appearances, miss work, air your private grievances in public, etc.

Indiana law allows (and encourages) the parties to submit to the Court a Property Settlement Agreement. This agreement will set forth all of the items that a divorce trial will normally deal with: custody, parenting time, child support, spousal maintenance,how the marital residence will be handled, cars, division of debts, etc. This agreement will then be accepted (or sometimes declined) by the Court.

By settling all of your outstanding issues with your divorce in a property settlement agreement, you can then ask the court to bypass the final hearing, by filing a Waiver of Final Hearing. This Waiver of Final Hearing, which is signed by both parties, tells the Court that you have agreed on all issues and there is no need for the Court to hold a hearing in regards to your divorce.

It is also possible to negotiate or mediate a partial settlement. This means that you will present a partial agreement to the Court and then will present evidence as to the contested issues. Presenting your evidence will be done in the form of a bench trial in Indiana.

South Bend Bankruptcy Lawyer – Understanding the Meeting of Creditors

Posted on September 12, 2011 by jeffhaupt

What is a Bankruptcy Section 341 Meeting?

The Section 341 meeting is generally referred to as the meeting of creditors. This meeting gives your creditors a chance to ask you questions regarding your bankruptcy filing. The meeting usually involves you, your attorney, and the bankruptcy trustee. Under most circumstances, your creditors will not likely show up. If they do show up they will typically ask a couple of questions. The situation is very professional and much more low key than what you would see in a trial setting on TV.

What Happens During a Section 341 Meeting?

During the Section 341 meeting the trustee will typically ask you identification questions, questions about your petition, questions about your property, debts, and any potential preferential payments or transfers that you may have made. Which usually is where any problems will arise from your case. What are some of the typical problems that come up during the meeting of creditors? Preferential payments, which generally means you paid one creditor and not the others, will raise questions from the trustee. The trustee will see if they should get the money back from that creditor so that he or she can spread it more evenly to other creditors.

The 341 meeting is usually over in a matter of minutes. Once the meeting has ended, your creditors have a couple of months to raise any challenges. If nothing has happened during the 60 day period, you will likely receive your discharge in a couple of months after that point.

Yep, here are those disclaimers:

we are a debt relief agency, we help people file for bankruptcy relief.

Child Support Contempt Hearings After the Child is Emancipated – Indiana Child Support Lawyer

Posted on September 12, 2011 by jeffhaupt

Collecting child support arrears after the child has emancipated can be a tough proposition. Why? For starters, Indiana law only allows child support orders to be punishable by contempt if the child has not been emancipated.

Child Support Contempt Hearing Post Emancipation

The Indiana Constitution has a provision against imprisonment for debt, Article One Section Twenty-Two. Essentially, this provision protects you from being jailed for having past due bills to your creditors. Child Support Orders have always been treated differently by both the Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals. Because of the nature of this debt and the need of Indiana citizens to support their children, the Courts have allowed the contempt remedy to be used in order to coerce a non-custodial parent into paying the child support order.

This general rule only applies until the child reaches the age of emancipation. The legal theory is that the extraordinary reason for overstepping the Indiana Constitution, is no longer there. At that point, the outstanding child support arrearage becomes a debt that is only enforceable like any other debt would be.

Ways to Enforce Child Support Post Emancipation

Just because the child is emancipated does not mean that a child support arrearage still cannot be collected. The Court has the power to allow the custodial parent to collect weekly payments through income withholding orders and to allow assets to be seized. If a person is participating in a Title IV-D child support program, they can have the assistance of the county Prosecutor in seizing income tax refunds and possibly suspending licenses.

if you are facing a child support arrearage or emancipation question, contact me today for a free consultation.

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, and child custody. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so. DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

Income Seizure and Child Support – Indiana Child Support Lawyer

Posted on September 8, 2011 by jeffhaupt

If you owe child support or you have a weekly child support order, chances are you are familiar with an income withholding order. It is now law in Indiana that a court enter an income withholding order in any case where a child support order is in place. There are a few exceptions when the Court can hold off from implementing the income withholding order, but the reality for most people is that the child support will be coming out of your check.

The income withholding order is a very common way for child support to be collected. Typically, the court order for support will include the weekly child support amount and if an arrearage is due, a weekly amount to be paid on that back child support. In some instances, if a Title IV-D Child Support office has any involvement in your family law case, an additional amount can be withdrawn from your weekly check to satisfy outstanding child support arrearages.

Child Support and Bank Accounts

Additionally, assets such as investment accounts, checking accounts and savings accounts can be seized to help satisfy any back child support that may be owed. This is a common enforcement measure used by Prosecuting Attorneys to collect on child support. There are rules that apply to how much they can seize from the account and how they can handle joint accounts, but in the end if you owe child support and your name is on the account, they will typically try to seize this money, if they know about it.

If you are faced with an issue where your banking account is frozen because your local child support office is attempting to seize the amounts in your accounts, you need to act fast. Banks have to hold the funds for a certain period of time before they can release them to the party who had submitted the lien, in this case the child support agency. During this time period is when you would need to challenge the seizure, through the court that has jurisdiction over your child support matter.

if you are faced with a bank account seizure due to past due child support, contact me today to learn about your rights

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, and child custody. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so. DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

Filing a Paternity Action, What You Need to Know – Indiana Paternity Lawyer

Posted on September 6, 2011 by jeffhaupt

Paternity action are generally brought by the State of Indiana if the custodial parent (or a guardian) receives benefits such as Medicaid or TANF. Once that person needs those services, he or she signs up to receive services from the Title IV-D Child Support Office, whether or not they want those services. There are times though when people need to file a paternity case. The question is how do you do it and can you file a paternity action.

Who Can File a Paternity Action?

Ind. Code 31-14-4-1 gives the following people the ability to file a paternity action:

(1) The mother or expectant mother.
(2) A man alleging that:
(A) he is the child’s biological father; or
(B) he is the expectant father of an unborn child.
(3) The mother and a man alleging that he is her child’s biological father, filing jointly.
(4) The expectant mother and a man alleging that he is the biological father of her unborn child, filing jointly.
(5) A child.
(6) The department or a county office of family and children under section 3 of this chapter.
(7) The prosecuting attorney under section 2 of this chapter.

Simply put, if you are the mother of the child, the child, or you think you may be the father of the child then you can file a paternity action.

When Can You File a Paternity Action?

When you look at the current statute in place, Indiana Code 31-14-5-3, it would seem to indicate that you only have two years to file after the child is born, “[t]he mother, a man alleging to be the child’s father, or the department or its agents must file a paternity action not later than two (2) years after the child is born…“ The child in question has a considerably longing time period to file, “a child may file a paternity petition at any time before the child reaches twenty (20) years of age.” I.C. 31-14-5-2(b)

What is important to note is that Indiana Code 31-14-5-2 allows for a person to file a paternity action as “next friend” of the child until the child reaches the age of 18. This means that as a parent you can essentially extend your statute of limitations in most cases from 2 years after birth of the child, to 18 years of age, by filing the paternity action as the next friend of the child.

How is Paternity Established?

Under Indiana law, paternity is established in one of three ways. Gone are the days when you had to put the mother of the child on the stand to start cross-examining the mother about her sex life and the time of conception. Paternity is handled through an admission by the alleged father, through a genetic test, or by execution of the paternity affidavit.

What Happens During the Rest of the Paternity Case?

Once paternity has been established through an admission or through the results of a genetic test, the court will go on to make decisions regarding child support, custody, parenting time, the last name of the child, medical expenses, etc. As you can see there can be a great deal that is dealt with during the course of a paternity action.

if you have questions about filing a paternity action, contact me for your free phone consultation.

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, and child custody. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so. DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

Who has standing in visitation cases? – South Bend Family Law Lawyer

Posted on September 5, 2011 by jeffhaupt

Over the course of the years, both the Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Legislative bodies have extended third party visitation rights to parents, step-parents (within limits of a two prong test) and grandparents. The Indiana Supreme Court has explicitly stated that former foster parents do not have standing to seek visitation from a trial court. Worrell v. Elkhart County Office of Family &Children, 704 N.E.2d 1027 (Ind. 1998). And, even though same-sex relationship visitation rights have been examined under Indiana case law, the issue of standing was not uniquely addressed in the published case law.

Visitation and other relatives

More recently the Indiana Court of Appeals had the opportunity to examine whether or not a maternal aunt and uncle have standing to seek visitation from the court, Danny R. Kitchen, Jr. v. Rebecca Kitchen (deceased), Michael Lake and Shelly Lake. What the court made clear is that they did not have standing, but more importantly the Court was not going to open the possibility through case law, like the Indiana Supreme Court did for step-parents.

So what has been established is that by Constitutional right, statutory right and case law development, non-custodial parents have the ability to seek visitation through the Court. Under Indiana statutory law, Indiana has established the right of grandparent’s to seek visitation. And for step-parents, if they can show prove custodial and parental relationship, then prove visitation is in best interest of child. Outside of these relationships, seeking visitation through the Court may be a challenge that you should address with a lawyer.

if you have questions about visitation, contact me with your questions.

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, and child custody. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so. DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

South Bend Divorce Lawyer – Paying for Divorce Documents in Indiana

Posted on September 3, 2011 by jeffhaupt

There seems to be more and more sites appearing everyday that offer three step solutions to your divorce needs or quick and easy divorce! Regardless of the painless promise that is made, all of these services make promises to save you thousands on attorney fees! While, there are some situations where people truly cannot afford legal counsel or their divorce might be simple enough to complete on a pro se basis, for the most part paying for divorce legal documents that don’t come with any legitimate legal advice is a bad idea.

An Easy Divorce for the low fee of $199, $299, etc., etc.

At the end of the day most sites are going to charge a few hundred dollars to provide you completed divorce papers to be filed with the Court. Many of these sites make the claim that these divorce documents will stand up in any Court! That sounds appealing, doesn’t it?

The problem with this is that you are paying for something that you can get for free on the internet or perhaps at your public library. The Indiana Supreme Court has done a great job with it’s website in providing an assortment of documents related to various types of life situations, including divorce. In fact many of the divorce documents are intuitive in that your answers to questions that are asked at the beginning of the forms will automatically populate the divorce petition.

While a Divorce Lawyer is Your Best Option…

Every divorce is unique, even if the process is similar. You have different desires and wishes about what property you may want to keep, how you would like to divide up bills, what sort of visitation schedule you would like to see implemented, etc. Because of these reasons, a divorce lawyer can be very helpful in representing you and working to protect your rights.

I also understand that there are situations where the feasibility of affording a divorce attorney is not possible. If that is the case, don’t automatically rush to use one of the Divorce for $199 (or some other arbitrary price) websites that are out there now. Many divorce lawyers offer free or a reduced consultation rate. This will at least allow you to understand whether you can afford to hire a divorce lawyer. Additionally, the lawyer can point you to other resources in your community such as a Volunteer Lawyer Network, Legal Services, or your local bar association for low cost or free legal assistance.

If for whatever reason you find yourself in a position where you need to proceed as your own attorney, check out the documents that the Indiana Supreme Court provides before proceeding to pay someone $200 to $300 for the same thing that you can get for free online.

i offer free phone consultations for people wanting to know more about hiring a divorce lawyer

The Law Office of Jeffery M. Haupt is located in South Bend, Indiana and helps people handle family law issues such as divorce, parenting time, child support, paternity, and child custody. The information in this blog should only be used for educational purposes and not be construed as legal advice. Nothing in this blog creates an attorney-client relationship between me and any readers of this blog. No attorney-client relationship is created until you have a document from me saying so. DO NOT POST ABOUT CASE PARTICULARS IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

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Monthly Archives: September 2011