This information is to help you if you need to change a Department of Health Human
Services (DHHS) Child Support Order. If a Court ordered you to pay
child support, this information will not help you. Click here for
our handbook Family Law
in Maine: Post-Divorce Motions.
CONTENTS
When can I
ask DHHS for a change?
How do I make the
Request?
What
if the earlier DHHS Child Support Order was wrong?
What
happens after I send the request?
Can I talk to my DHHS Support
Enforcement Officer and make a deal instead of going to the Hearing?
What
if I am not satisfied with the amount DHHS says I must pay?
| When can I Ask DHHS For a change? |
If your order is at least 3 years old and your financial situation
has changed, you can ask for a review of the amount of support even if the
change is not very big. If your order is less than 3 years old, you
can ask for a review of your order due to "substantial change of circumstances."
"Substantial" means that there will be at least a 15% change in
the amount you pay. For example, you were earning $20,000 per year two years
ago when DHHS gave its first order. Now, you have been laid off and get only
$150 per week unemployment insurance, or you have gone back to work at a job
that pays only $16,000 per year.
DHHS will only change the amount of support from the date it gets your request
for a change. So do not delay. The sooner you send your request, the sooner
the new order will take effect.
| How do I make the Request? |
| You need Acrobat Reader to get this form. Click
here if you need help getting this free software. |
- Step One: Click here and then print the
form linked to this information and fill it out. Be sure to sign it and
put the support enforcement ID# at the bottom. This number will be on any
child support notice DHHS has sent you.
- Step Two: Make a copy of your request.
- Step Three: Mail your request to DHHS. (See address at top of
form notice.)
- Step Four: On your copy of the request, write down the date
you mailed the original to DHHS.
| What if the earlier DHHS Child Support Order was wrong? |
If you think that DHHS's earlier order was wrong, you may also
be able to get that order set aside. For example, assume DHHS gave
an order six months ago saying that you owe $100 per week. You were unemployed,
had no income and could not find work. But you did not go to the earlier
hearing because you didn't think it would help. Or you thought the order
was wrong but you did not appeal.
If the earlier order is less than one year old, you can
also send a "Request to Set Aside a DHHS Support Order." Ask Pine
Tree Legal for a form and instructions. If the old order is set aside, you
would not have to make these back payments. A new order would set the correct
amount owed for that back period.
For any order that is more than one year old,
you can get the amount of your child support changed prospectively only.
| What happens after I send the Request? |
DHHS will send you a notice telling you the date,
time and place of the hearing.
To prepare for the hearing: Be ready
to explain what has changed since the last hearing to require a change in
the support order.
Examples:
- Your income has gone down.
- The other parent's income has gone up
- The other parent's child care costs have
gone down.
- Your health insurance costs have gone up
so that you can't afford to pay for it anymore.
- Your child stays with you more days of the
week now.
Bring any written proof you have of your income
or other facts you want to bring up at hearing.
| Can I talk to my DHHS Support Enforcement Officer and
make a deal instead of going to the Hearing? |
DHHS sets the support according to set income
guidelines. The amount is calculated based on what your income is and what
the other parent's income is. Some expenses, such as child care and extraordinary
medical expenses for the child, are also counted.
You may want to talk to your DHHS child support
worker to find out what your order should be based on your current income.
If you reach an agreement, before you dismiss your hearing request,
be sure that:
- any agreement about the amount of back
support you owe is in writing; and
- any agreement about a change in your current
support is made in writing as an amendment to your support order.
| What if I am not satisfied with the amount DHHS says
I must pay? |
You can do your own child support calculation.
Click here for our information telling you how
to calculate your own child support. (That page includes a link to an
online self-calculating form.) You can also get information
on preparing for a DHHS hearing, and
knowing what DHHS can do to collect.
Or you can contact Pine
Tree Legal Assistance for more information.
You still have the right to have the DHHS
fair hearing if you do not agree with the DHHS worker's decision.
Find more information on the
DHHS Support Enforcement & Recovery Home
Page
Maine Child Support Enforcement Manual
Rules the State must follow in administering the child support program
