Petition For Support Instructions (Page 4 of 4) in pdf

You MUST also file the following information with your Financial Statement:

A copy of your 3 most recent wage or salary stub showing gross pay, deductions

for taxes and other items, and net pay for a normal pay period, and for the year-to-date;

Copies of your and your spouse’s complete income tax returns for the two years

immediately preceding the date the petition was filed, together with copies of the federal

Form W-2 for those years; and a copy of the Form W-2 for the most recent year for

which that form is available, even if a tax return has not yet been filed for that year;

For self-employed persons and business owners, a copy of a current financial

statement showing gross income, expenses, and net income;

Copies of any invoices or receipts showing the cost of any extraordinary medical

expenses for the party or the children, of any child care expenses, and of any expenses

necessitated by the special needs of the children.

AND

You MUST also complete a Parent Education Class. Deadlines: You must pay the Parent

Education fee when you file your Petition, unless your fees have been waived. You should

complete Parent Education before your first hearing. If you do not, your case may be delayed.

Make a plan for how you will present your case at the hearing. How you will present

your case, and what you will need to prove will depend on the claims you have made in your

Petition and the relief you have requested from the court. These are some examples of the types

of things you might need to prove. If you are asking for support, you will need to show your

income and expenses, and you will need to show the respondent has the financial ability to pay

the support you are requesting. To make a case relating to the allocation of custodial

responsibility, you will need to show why it is in the child’s best interest for the court to grant

you custodial responsibility, and why the respondent should not have custodial responsibility.

When you begin preparing for your hearing, review your Petition, think about the facts

you have alleged, and the things you are asking the court to do, and decide what you need to

prove and how you can prove it. Generally speaking, you can prove things by your testimony,

by the testimony of other witnesses, and by documents or records. Make a plan for how you will

present your case. It’s best to write things down. List the things you want to prove, and for each

thing you want to prove, list how you will prove it, by witness testimony, or a document, for

example.

Step 4 explains what happens after the hearing.

STEP 4.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE HEARING?

The Family Court Judge will consider the evidence presented at the hearing, and make a

decision. That decision will be written down in an Order, and copies will be sent to the parties.

End

SCA-FC-260 Rev. 12/2007(F)

Page 4 of 4

Instructions for Petition for Support & Allocation of Custodial Responsibility

Petition For Support Instructions Page 4