Can you Increase Support because children are older?

Once a child support number is set, the courts can allow for an increase in support if there is a substantial change in circumstances. A substantial change in circumstances can be an increase in income of the payor of support, a substantial increase in the expenses of the children, or a substantial decrease in the income of the receiver. All of these are factored together. For example, while an increase in the income of the payor may lead to an increase in support, the law still requires that there be a showing of a need for the increased support. In addition, while it might be evident that children’s expenses increase as they age, this too is not enough alone as an actual increase must be shown and the it must be shown that the increase in expenses was not foreseeable when the original support award was made. All custodial parents should take great care in keeping track of their expenses both at the time of the divorce and during the ensuing years. One method would be to use standard bookkeeping software such as Quicken. See Blevins v. Wiggins, No. 2017-CA-01283-COA Decided November 5, 2019.