If you are a government worker and lose your employment (through no fault of your own) as a result of the large cuts being made to the federal work force, you must prepare to obtain a court approved downward modification of your child support obligations. Self-help is not permitted and reductions are only credited from the date that you file your Petition. So if you wait a month before filing your support obligations are not changed for that month even if you are successful later on.
Child support modifications are permitted for several reasons (only one discussed in this blog) which include a change up or down of 15% or more of your income since the date of the last support order. The loss of employment would clearly meet the 15% calculation. However, there is more to it than just that.
Since many government workers are receiving boiler plate letters that state that their performance was inadequate or not meeting the goals of the administration, it is vital to have proof of your prior performance reviews, salary increases, promotions and any other written proof that you have from your employment that is positive. Hopefully, you have printed or saved in your personal email account these items as your access to your work email account will have been extinguished. It likely is not enough to say they fired 10,000 workers without showing that you were a valued worker prior to the DOGE recommended cuts.
If you took the "fork in the road" option or are receiving termination pay, the court will factor that in to any modification request as it is possible that during the period in which you receive your severance benefit that the amount of your income reduction will either be less than 15% or not as severe because of the partial income replacement. Since it takes time to prepare and file your petition and for the court to issue an initial conference date, I would recommend filing asap because the date of any support reduction can always be postponed while you are receiving your severance benefit. Perhaps the case will need to be adjourned as it always possible that you may find a replacement position while in your severance benefit period and then the calculation can be based on your new salary.
As will be discussed in my next blog it is important to immediately begin your replacement job search and to keep track of all efforts that you make responding to job postings, contacting possible employers, interviews obtained, employment agencies and networking.
The courts will likely become quite busy and possibly backlogged due to the volume of both federal workers and private company employees that are faced with job elimination at this time. If you know you are at risk begin your paper trail preparation as soon as possible.