Delaware County, Indiana

How to modify amount of child support

Before a court can modify your child support order, you must show that one of the following conditions is met:

• There has been a substantial and continuing change of circumstances which renders the existing order unreasonable
• The order has not been modified for at least one year and the amount of support which would be required now by the Indiana Child Support Guidelines is at least 20% higher or 20% lower than the amount of the existing order.

If you know the other parent's income, you may use the Indiana Supreme Court's Child Support Calculator to compute what child support should be in your case.

If you decide to seek a modification of the current court order, you may:

• Contact an attorney of your choice to assist you in filing a petition to modify
• File your own petition to modify support in the proper court
• If you are a participant on the Title IV-D Program, contact our office to come in and sign a petition for modification.

If you request our office file a petition for modification, we will:  

• Conduct an impartial review of what child support should be, using the parties' present circumstances and the Indiana Child Support Guidelines.
• If we believe an increase or decrease in child support is warranted, we will file a petition to modify support and ask the Court to set a hearing. You and the other party will receive a copy of our petition and be notified of the court date.
• If the support does not increase or decrease by 20%, you will be notified by letter that the modification has been denied.