Child support guidelines were created to ensure parents pay an amount that is within in their means while at the same time provides their children with the support they need to continue enjoying the same standard of living they had while their parents were married. The amount a parent pays is not universal, but rather is based on the parents’ levels of income and the number of children in need of support.

After a divorce, circumstances sometimes change and a parent may need to change or modify the child support order in response to those changes. Judges are supposed to grant a modification if the parent can prove he or she experienced a significant change in circumstances, such as an unexpected job loss or medical emergency.

While this is supposed to happen, often it does not, much to the frustration of the parent needing the modification. This situation happened to Anthony Fernandez, a Nevada man who was ordered to pay $80,000 a year in child support while earning $500,000 to $4 million a year in the stock market. After the economy soured and the stock market crashed, Fernandez took a job as a car salesmen, where he brings home roughly $3,000 a month.

Obviously unable to keep up with his child support obligations, Fernandez asked the Nevada Supreme Court to grant him a modification, but the court said his case must be heard by the district court. If the lower does not grant Fernandez a modification and lower his child support obligations, it will be nearly impossible for him to continue making payments. How the court expects a man making $36,000 a year to pay $80,000 in child support is beyond reason.