Our courts apply two different standards when determining whether to modify child support, depending on whether the original award was embodied in a separation agreement or in a court order. If child support is embodied in a separation agreement, the standard for “modification” requires only that the moving party must show the amount of support necessary to meet the reasonable needs of the child at the time of the hearing.
The amount which the parties have agreed on is presumed to be reasonable, but it only constitutes some evidence of the appropriate level of support. In other words, the trial court can disregard a prior settlement over the amount of child support, even if the parties deemed the amount to be fair. The previously agreed upon level of support is but one factor to be considered at a hearing. By contrast, if a court order for child support is to be modified, the party must show “changed circumstances.” This change must be both “substantial and material.”
This standard for modification puts a heightened burden on the party seeking to change the amount of support. The court only considers changes since the entry of the most recent order. Its examination would focus on the reasonable needs of the child, each parent’s relative ability to pay, and all the other financial factors taken into account under the Guidelines. The party wishing to freeze child support as much as possible should, therefore, memorialize any agreement between the parties in a consent order.
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