Raising a child with special needs can take a lot of time, effort and money. It can be a lot to handle on your own. Medical care, special medical equipment and various services can quickly eat away at your income and your savings.
You shouldn’t have to shoulder these expenses without support. Fortunately, Arizona law allows you to seek child support for your disabled child, with certain provisions that allow the child support to continue even after the child turns 18 and moves into adulthood.
But to secure the financial support that your child needs, you have to have an understanding of the law and how to navigate it.
Pursing child support for a special needs child
When seeking child support, the court will consider several factors. Here are some that you’ll want to pay particularly close attention to as you build your child support case:
The extent of the disability: You want to give the court a clear understanding of your child’s disability and how it impacts their ability to live a normal life. Any limitations and pain that they experience can be relevant, too. So, make sure you have medical evidence that clearly establishes the full extent of your child’s condition.
Your child’s needs: A disabled child with special needs is going to have extensive needs. This includes medical treatment, medical equipment, more extensive insurance coverage, and rehabilitative services. Keep in mind, too, that your child’s needs will change over time as they age and move into adulthood. If you don’t present evidence of these needs in your child support case, then you probably won’t secure the resources that are necessary to meet your child’s needs.
The standard of living: When determining an appropriate amount of child support, the court will assess what the child’s standard of living would’ve been like had their parents lived together. Here, you’ll want to learn as much as you can about the other parent’s financial resources and how that would’ve affected your child’s standard of living.
Each parent’s financial resources: If the other parent is unemployed or doesn’t have much income, then they’ll be ordered to pay very little, if anything, for child support. But you don’t want to let the parent off the hook completely, especially if they’re minimizing their income or hiding assets from you. Use the discovery process to your advantage so that you know the other parent’s resources and have a clear understanding of their ability to pay.
As you navigate your child support case, remember that it’ll be different than most support cases given that your child has more extensive needs. So, be sure to track all expenses related to your child’s care and be diligent in addressing the legal standard that’s applicable to your case.
Aggressively advocate for the support that your child needs
Child support is important in all cases, as children need financial resources to ensure that their best interests are protected. But children with disabilities and special needs are even more vulnerable, thus requiring a higher degree of care when addressing child support issues. So, if you’re ready to build an aggressive and thorough child support case for your child’s benefit, then be sure to secure any guidance you may need to be as persuasive as possible heading into court.The post What to know about child support for special needs children first appeared on Duenas Eden Cravatta, PLC .
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