When people separate from their spouses and are awarded custody of the children, it's natural they would want to get as much child support as they possibly can from their exes to help take care of the kids. The trouble is the decisions you make during your divorce can have a significant impact on your ex-spouse's ability to pay, which may result in you getting much less money than you'd like. Here are two things that can affect the amount of child support you receive.

Shifting Debt to Your Ex

No one likes paying debts. When you get divorced, however, the court will typically split the bills between you and your ex. While you can negotiate to have your ex take on the bulk of the debt, you should think carefully about employing this strategy. If your ex doesn't have enough money to pay the debts and give you money for child support, he or she can claim undue hardship and have the child support payments reduced to an amount that fits their budget.

This can be a tough issue to resolve. On the one hand, taking on more debt can affect your ability to provide for yourself and your child. On the other, shifting the debt to your ex may mean accepting less child support. If the debt is large and both you and your ex just don't earn enough to pay it all off, it may be a good idea to negotiate getting a debt consolidation loan that you both make payments to or jointly filing bankruptcy to eliminate some (or all) the debt and make room for other financial responsibilities.

Otherwise, it's best to crunch the numbers and see which option—receiving less debt or getting awarded less child support—makes more financial sense for your situation.

Moving Far Away

Another thing that can affect the amount of child support you receive is moving far away from your ex or otherwise making it difficult for him or her to access the children. The issue here is the expense your ex incurs related to exercising his or her visitation rights. If your ex must pay a lot of money to access the children (e.g. driving long distance, purchasing plane tickets), he or she can also claim undue hardship as result and the court will take those expenses into consideration when determining how much child support to award you.

You can still move after your divorce, but you should think carefully about how difficult it will be for your ex to visit with the kids when it's time to do so and choose your course of action based on what you learn. For instance, instead of moving to another state, consider simply moving to another city that's only a couple of hours away.

For advice on ensuring you receive the maximum amount of child support possible or help negotiating your separation with your ex, contact a separation agreement lawyer.