The orders from your divorce or suit affecting the parent-child relationship have a special child support clause and it states, typically, the amount of child support you are responsible for as well as the dates that each support payment is due. A few months, or even years, later you realize that you have been paying more than the amount stated in your orders. You call your attorney at Guest & Gray, P.C. to determine what you can do, if anything.
If you, the obligor parent, pay the obligee parent a little extra than what you’re ordered to, then you need to get in writing that the obligee parent agrees these are “excess payments” to the child support order. The significance of this is outlined in Bolton v. Bolton, where the 1st District Houston Court of Appeals ordered that it depends on what the obligor’s intent was at the time the payments were being made–were they excess payments that should be treated as credit for any future payments of child support where the amount of support is increased? The Court placed a lot of emphasis on what was the agreement of the parties. Therefore, get your attorney at Guest & Gray, P.C. to draft a written agreement between you and the obligee parent that you intend the extra payments as a credit so that any confusion between you and the other parent can be avoided. It may also prevent you from having to go back to court and have the judge determine the characterization of the excess payments.