Children are an incredible blessing. They are also, however, an expensive investment in terms of time and financial resources. Experts estimate that when housing, transportation, education, medical, and other costs are figured in, it costs anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000/year from birth to age 18 to raise and educate children born today. That is a total cost of between $180,000 to $360,000. The cost can be even higher should a child choose to attend a private 4-year college after the age of 18. For a single parent who is not receiving regular monthly support payments from the other parent, many costs are unable to be met. An Austin area attorney may be able to help parents who are trying to obtain child support from an absent parent or from a parent who has not been consistently making required child support payments.
Because the state of Texas recognizes the difficulties that single parents face in raising their children, the Attorney General’s Office assists parents in pursuing child support payments in Austin. However, as many parents in the Austin area have discovered, the expenses inherent to child rearing continue to accrue while state employees attempt to slog through the backlog of negligent child support cases in Austin that the Attorney General is trying to pursue. Many parents in this situation despair of ever being able to provide their children with the very best opportunities, because they simply do not have the necessary funds available nor can they foresee a time when their financial circumstances will change.
Many parents are able to get additional help in pursuing child support payments from attorneys in the Austin area who specialize in family law. Even if the Texas Attorney General is involved, your attorney may be able to speed up the process considerably by making sure that all paperwork is complete and properly filled out. In addition, if your attorney reviews your case and sees that there is anything that would cause the Attorney General’s office to have questions, thus slowing down your case, your attorney can take care of those details well in advance of any slow-down.
Regardless of your particular circumstances, you should not have to raise a child without financial support from the other parent. Whether you are a single parent who has never been married, a parent who should be receiving payments from the other parent from whom you are now divorced, or a parent who is legally separated from the other parent, an attorney in Austin will be able to assist you in obtaining the essential funds necessary to raise your child in a responsible and reasonable manner.
