Editing Child support (section)

===Change of circumstances===
Once established, child-support orders typically remain static unless otherwise reviewed. Obligors and obligees reserve the right to request a court review for modification (typically six months to one year or more after the issuance of the order or if the circumstances have changed such that the child support would change significantly). For instance, if the obligor has a change in income or faces financial hardship, they may petition the court for a reduction in support payments. Examples of financial hardship include supporting other children, unemployment, extraordinary healthcare expenses, etc. Likewise, if the obligor is spending more time with the child, they may petition the court for a reduction or even a reversal in support payments. Conversely, if the child's expenses increase, the obligee may ask the court to increase payments to cover the new costs<ref name="child support">{{citation|title=Child Support Lawyer Orange County|url=http://www.bayatilaw.com/practice-areas/orange-county-child-support-lawyer|access-date=March 22, 2014|year=2014|publisher=Child Support Orange County|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325115719/http://www.bayatilaw.com/practice-areas/orange-county-child-support-lawyer|archive-date=March 25, 2014}}</ref>

Although both parents have the right to petition the court for a support order adjustment, modifications are not automatic, and a judge may decide not to alter the amount of support after hearing the facts of the case. That is to say, simply because an obligors's income has decreased, a court may find that the decrease in income is of no fault of the child, and will not decrease the child's expenses, and therefore should not affect him or her financially. Likewise, a court may find that an increase in the child's expenses may have been calculated by the receiving parent and is not necessary, and therefore the support obligation of the paying parent should not increase.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="supreme.state.az.us"/><ref>[ld+Support+Services&L3=Manage+Your+Case&sid=Ador&b=terminalcontent&f=cse_parents_reqrev_intruc&csid=Ador Modify your court order] Department of Revenue, Massachusetts</ref><ref>[http://www.ird.govt.nz/childsupport/paying-parents/circ-change/contact/ When to contact Child Support] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430135958/http://www.ird.govt.nz/childsupport/paying-parents/circ-change/contact/ |date=2008-04-30 }} New Zealand Inland Revenue</ref>

In United States law, the [[Bradley Amendment]] (1986, {{USC|42|666(a)(9)(c)}}) requires state courts to prohibit retroactive reduction of child-support obligations. Specifically, it:

* automatically triggers a non-expiring lien whenever child support becomes past-due.
* overrides any state's statute of limitations.
* disallows any judicial discretion, even from bankruptcy judges.
* requires that the payment amounts be maintained without regard for the physical capability of the person owing child support (the obligor) to promptly document changed circumstances or regard for his awareness of the need to make the notification.