Austin Child Support Attorney
Austin Child Support Attorney Overview
- How Is Child Support Calculated in Texas?
- How an Austin Child Support Lawyer Protects Your Interests
- Find the Help You Need Near You
- What Child Support Covers, and What It Doesn't
- Legal Solutions for Life's Challenges
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Modifying Child Support in Austin
- When the Other Parent Won’t Pay
- Getting Ready to Talk to an Austin Child Support Attorney
- Meet Our Attorneys
- Talk to an Austin Child Support Lawyer at Davis & Associates
- Expert Strategies, Industry Trends, & Firm News
Child support in Texas can feel like a verdict on your worth as a parent. But it’s all just math. Texas plugs one parent’s income into a formula. The state multiplies that by a percentage and … bam! That is your monthly child support number. If your facts are incorrect, that makes the monthly number incorrect. That is a mistake that could potentially last for up to eighteen years. That’s why you need an Austin child support attorney: to make sure the math is done right, starting with the facts, whether you’ll be the parent paying or the one receiving.
Travis County courts follow the same Texas Family Code guidelines as the rest of the state. However, the details are where these cases are won and lost. For example, what counts as income? What does the order actually cover? And how do you change it when your life changes?
Here is how child support really works in Austin, and where an experienced family law lawyer can help move the needle in your favor.
How Is Child Support Calculated in Texas?
Texas keeps the formula simple on purpose. The net resources of the paying parent are multiplied by a flat percentage based on the number of children: 20 percent for one child, 25 percent for two, 35 percent if there are four, and 40 percent if there are five or more. These percentages are found in the Texas Family Code child support guidelines. Judges begin their calculations with these percentages in most cases.
Here are two words you’ll keep hearing in a Travis County courtroom: obligor and obligee. The obligor is the parent ordered to pay support, usually the one with less possession time. The obligee is the parent who receives support on the child’s behalf. Neither term is a judgment about who’s the better parent, no matter what it feels like the first time you’re labeled obligor or obligee.
The fight is rarely about the percentage. It’s about net resources, which is a bigger, stranger category than just your paycheck. Net resources can include the following:
- Wages and salary
- Commissions
- Bonuses and tips
- Self-employment income
- Rental income
- Some retirement and disability pay
Once all your different types of income are added up, the formula subtracts taxes, union dues, and the cost of the children’s health insurance. All of these considerations leave the court with a certain number. If that number is wrong, every payment afterward will also be wrong.
One important note: As of September 1, 2025, these guidelines apply to the first $11,700 of monthly net resources, up from the previous $9,200. If you earn more than that ceiling, the court can order more, but only if the child’s needs justify it. This is key because many Austin law pages still quote old caps, even back to when it was only $7,500 or $8,550. These caps are years out of date.
How an Austin Child Support Lawyer Protects Your Interests
The guideline math looks pretty neutral, but that doesn’t mean the inputs are.
If you’re the obligor, an Austin child support lawyer keeps you from getting soaked on a number that isn’t real. For example, a bonus that got counted as if it repeats every month, or a health-insurance deduction the court overlooked, or self-employment “income” that doesn’t consider legitimate business costs.
If you’re the obligee, the same attorney does the opposite work, digging out the cash tips one spouse forgets to mention, the side hustle that never hit a W-2, or the sudden, suspicious pay cut that shows up the month before a child support hearing.
Texas also lets a judge order support above or below the guideline when the formula result would be “unjust or inappropriate.” This door can swing both ways. A child with real medical needs or a paying parent who is genuinely underemployed can both justify a departure from the guidelines — but only if someone builds the record for it. That’s your lawyer’s job. They turn your actual financial life into numbers the court will believe.
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What Child Support Covers, and What It Doesn't
Be careful of the costly myth that the monthly child support check is supposed to itemize every expense in a kid’s life. It isn’t. Child support is a flat contribution toward the general cost of raising a child, not a receipt for cleats, braces, and birthday parties.
Medical and dental support get handled separately. A Texas order typically requires one parent to carry the children’s health and dental insurance and split any uninsured costs between the parents, on top of the base support number. When people say that support “doesn’t cover” a trip to the orthodontist, they’re half right. It’s a separate line, and it’s usually addressed in the same order if your lawyer thought to include it.
Support and possession are separate obligations, too. Your parenting schedule, whether it’s the Standard Possession Order built into the Texas Family Code, or a custom arrangement, does influence which parent pays. However, it is not a payment plan. An obligee cannot deny visitation to the obligor just because a support check was late. An obligor cannot withhold payment just because a weekend got canceled. Any such self-enforcement actions could lead to you explaining yourself to the judge.
Extras like private school tuition, daycare, or travel between two households are also not included in the guideline percentage. They can be added, though, either by agreement or court order, but only if one of the parents requests it. Silence in the order today could become an argument in court later.
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Generally until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever comes later. Support can extend indefinitely for a child who is disabled and will remain dependent, and it does not automatically end just because the receiving parent remarries.
Yes. Texas courts start with the guideline percentages, but a judge can order a different amount when the guideline result would be unjust or inappropriate given the child’s needs and the parents’ circumstances. Building that case takes evidence.
No. In Texas, medical and dental support are ordered separately from the base child support amount. One parent is typically required to carry the children’s health and dental coverage, with uninsured costs split between the parents.
Modifying Child Support in Austin
A child support order is a snapshot of one financial moment, but these moments do end. Jobs vanish, raises and promotions come along, a second family arrives, and child custody could shift. The order does not update itself.
Changing the child support order requires one parent to file a modification. Texas provides two paths. You can show a “material and substantial change” in circumstances since the last order, or you can use a simpler track. After at least three years, the guideline amount would now differ from your current order by either 20 percent or $100. The rules for both can be found in the Texas Family Code modification statute.
Many people make the mistake of simply going quiet. A laid-off parent who stops paying instead of filing to lower the order doesn’t get a pass; the old amount keeps piling up as arrears, interest and all. When you’re modifying child support in Austin, the smart move is to file the moment your situation changes, not after the debt has already buried you.
When the Other Parent Won’t Pay
Texas does not treat unpaid child support as a mere disagreement. It treats it as a debt the state will help collect. And it can bite.
Most Texas orders come with automatic income withholding, so support comes straight out of the paycheck before it ever reaches the obligor. When wage garnishment for child support isn’t enough, the Attorney General of Texas Child Support Division and the courts have other means at their disposal, such as:
- Intercepting tax refunds and lottery winnings
- Suspending a driver’s or professional license
- Filing liens against the obligor’s property
- Reporting child support debt to credit bureaus
- Holding the non-paying parent in contempt of court, which can lead to jail time
Courts also routinely order the delinquent parent to pay the other side’s attorney’s fees.
A Texas child support enforcement attorney picks the right lever for the situation. Wage garnishment for a parent with a steady job looks nothing like chasing a self-employed ex who’s paid in cash and allergic to paperwork.
Getting Ready to Talk to an Austin Child Support Attorney
If you want to save yourself time and money, walk into the first meeting with your paperwork already collected and sorted.
Bring the financial picture for both households if you can, including:
- Recent pay stubs
- The last two years of tax returns
- Proof of any bonuses or side income
- The cost of the kids’ health insurance
- Any existing court orders
If you suspect the other parent of hiding income, jot down what you’ve noticed: the new truck, the cash-only job, the lifestyle that doesn’t match the tax return. Hunches like this are where investigations begin.
Get clear on your goal. Are you seeking a first order? A modification? Enforcement of an existing order? These are three different cases with different legal paths. Knowing which one you’re bringing lets a Davis & Associates attorney get right to work
Talk to an Austin Child Support Lawyer at Davis & Associates
Remember: A child support number is only as fair as the facts that created it. Run the formula on the wrong income, forget the medical support, or let a stale order limp along for years, then one parent will pay for that mistake. So will the kid. That’s the whole reason to get it right the first time.
Davis & Associates is a Travis County family law firm that makes sure the numbers reflect reality, whether you’re setting a first order, modifying one that no longer fits, or enforcing one the other parent decided to ignore. We do all this with the same flat, predictable pricing that keeps a family case from becoming a financial hardship. If child support is on your plate, speak with an Austin child support attorney before the order is set in stone. Reach out today to get your questions answered and your case moving.
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