League City Family Law Blog

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it supports child support cooperation requirements for people receiving support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often referred to as "food stamps." In order to receive SNAP benefits, the USDA is arguing that states should require SNAP recipients to cooperate with child support enforcement efforts. This can include requiring both custodial and non-custodial parents to make official agreements for child support as part of their eligibility to receive SNAP benefits.

There are around 40 million people across the country that benefit from SNAP. Around 37% of children in single-parent families live in poverty, and one contributing factor is a failure by the non-custodial parents to pay child support. Of course, poverty itself poses a challenge, as poor parents are both far less likely to have a child support order or agreement in place and far more likely to face difficulties in meeting their payment obligations. Studies estimate that there is a nationwide gap of $13.5 billion between what custodial parents should be receiving in child support payments and what they actually receive.

If the wife is the breadwinner in a marriage, it could put a strain on the relationship. In some cases, a relationship may be doomed before a couple is even able to get married if a woman makes more than her significant other. This is in spite of the fact that 38% of wives make more than their husbands according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A Harvard study found that couples are 33% more likely to divorce when the women is the primary earner in the relationship. This is partially because attitudes toward a man's role in a marriage have not changed while a woman's role has evolved in recent decades. A Pew study discovered that 40% of respondents felt that it was important for fathers to make money. Furthermore, 75% felt that women in the workplace made it harder for families to raise children.

Fathers of today in Texas now have a better chance of getting shared custody of their children after a divorce. According to one law professor, the evolving notions about the father's role in a child's life and social acceptance of divorce are two factors responsible for the higher rate at which family courts are awarding shared custody.

Legal custody is one type of child custody that gives parents complete authority to make decisions regarding their children's religion, education, health care and other aspects of wellbeing. The other type of child custody, residential/physical custody, concerns where the children reside at night.

Tax season may raise some questions for Texans going through a divorce, especially parents of dependent children. Claiming a child as a dependent on a tax return can offer significant financial benefits. However, only one person can claim each child as a dependent at any given time. When parents do not reach an agreement among themselves about how to handle taxation, the results can be complex and challenging.

Claiming a child as a dependent is perhaps more financially important than ever. The claiming parent can file with Head of Household status and access several valuable tax credits, including the Child Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. All of these credits vary in amount depending on the number of dependents claimed. While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act removed many personal deductions from income taxes moving forward, these credits remained important. Indeed, the Child Tax Credit doubled under the new tax law.