whereisthisgoin

Still trying to finalize divorce papers with my STBXAH. He moved out in the summer of last year. We have the exact date recorded and notarized.

I'm going to call my lawyer in the am..but was just curious to those who have been through it..

Did you get Child Support in arrears or on your filing date or on your divorce date or ???

He has been paying the bills for the house but the Child Support payment will be more than the amount he has been paying.

Thanks for any info you want to share.

Thumper

I think it depends on how you initially filed and then either what you agree on or what the court decides. I 'negotiated' just to get the entire thing done and over with so we started the month the divorce was final, not the month he moved out or the month I filed. In hindsight I wish I'd have had it done when I filed but I was not organized and back pedeled a lot and just wanted to make it easy for him :puke:. Ah well. It is all ancient history now and while I would probably do it differently it doesn't really matter in the big picture. He still owes me back support for this year.

whereisthisgoin

We're trying to do uncontested so it's up to us to decide / agree upon. I can appreciate your post - it is tough to not to just make decisions to get the darn thing over with...and not cause too much of a fuss. But at the same time... I am trying not to make rash decisions I will regret later.

Thumper

My state has a child support calculator on-line that the courts will use to determine child support barring any unusual circumstances. If you have one of those it might help when trying to agree on a number (as long as you agree with it of course). When considering going after arearrs I would take into consideration how much it was, how much I needed it, what I'd lose in order to get it. My xah was making my life miserable with refusing to sign to sell the house. I was going to have to go through the courts to get that done so I gave up all kinds of stuff to get that house sold and while the money did hurt me, fighting it would have cost me more I think. He wasn't paying any money and didn't have much to lose since his name wasn't on the loan. It was a game he could play without actually doing anything or paying anyone so he'd have kept it up forever.

Also - he wasn't working. You can't get money from a turnip so winning on paper isn't always a win.

Willybluedog

Thumper

A friend was told once by an attorney that "You can't get blood from a turnip" and my friend told him "That's fine, because I can still get the juice that runs out when I run the damn turnip over with my truck" he said the lawyer was speechless, what a rare event.

Willybluedog

Dear where,

I know in MO they use a calculator, but what commonly happens here is you file for child support as soon as there is a separation and the court sets temporary custody and support arrangements pending final ruling with divorce.

Don't know your situation but make sure you get a piece of any retirement or pension, plus tuition if your kids have been in private school, plus a condition that he pays x-amount towards college, trade school, etc.

Best of luck,

Bill

skippernlilg

In Texas where I live, our child support began 4 months after the divorce was final. The Office of the Attorney General administers those payments. The payments were in arrears to the date of filing, so they added a certain amount each month to handle the arrears.

Now that my ex has been charged with a felony, however, it appears the turnip theory will now be in effect.

nodaybut2day

Same here (not the felony, but the turnip)...I began receiving C.S. payments in December 2010, and our divorce was finalized on July 1st 2010. However, after receiving two full payments of...113$, he quit his job to avoid getting garnished. I still receive a bit of money here in there...25$ here, 55$ there, which I am told are garnished from the unemployment he is fraudulently receiving at the Federal level. I assume from seeing the LinkedIn site and website to the bogus company he created that he is working under the table just to avoid paying for his four children.

And since we're so damn nice here in Canada, eh, he won't be going to jail for non-payment. At worst, the provincial government will go after him in whatever province he relocates to and I'll get whatever they can get their hands on from his income tax return (split with babymama #3 of course).

I hear mashed boiled turnip isn't half bad when sprinkled with brown sugar.

Willybluedog

Nodaybut2day,

My mom makes turnips with smoked bacon and oncions that are to die for....

I told my lawyer when some renters were evicted that he was to chase them to china if he could, he got 33% of everything he collected so he rode them for years, at least they had to be as inconvenienced as I was.

Best of luck,

Bill

Sounds like all of the mamas need to get together, get one lawyer who is also a cpa and maybe get a piece of that under the table income.

Can't he go to jail for cheating the revenue service?

Thumper

Turnips need to be roasted

I think my xah's counselor is riding him to pay right now because I've gotten the payments since September. We'll see if that keeps up once he moves on from there. I'm not holding my breath. We have a fairly good in-state system but that falls apart slightly once someone moves out of state.

skippernlilg

Here in Texas, we don't fool around. I almost feel sorry for my ex. He'll be remanded to custody, not only for his felony charges otherwise, but now as an official felony Child Support Evader. He'll probably get his photo honored on the website too...he always did want to be famous.

theuncertainty

I'd say it probably depends a great deal on what kind of guy your STBX is. I filed for child support service through the state in October 2009 - months before I filed for divorce. I told them where he was working and everything. They finally got a single partial payment from him in July 2010, then he quit / got fired and the state had to start chasing him. Though they did garnish a dividend check of his.

(note: The parent who needs to pay support can even file with the state and voluntarily start paying before the recipient asks for payments.)

Our divorce was final in December 2010 and the court made his custody payments retroactive. The state finally caught up with him again in April 2011. And now the state has been chasing him again for the past few months.

I think I want to move to Texas, Skipper. The State's child support services talks about possible jail time for non-payment, but I've yet to hear confirmation that they actually enforce to that degree. *shrug*

Bucyn

I got mine about 3 years after the divorce and 5 years after filing, after he spent Xmas in jail. Then I got it for 14 months.

They only pay if they want to. I was told my the court, "You can't get blood from a stone", and I said, "You can if you throw it hard enough". He was about to go to jail again and started paying.

Regarding unemployment, even unemployed parents are required to support their child. At minimum court will impute him with minimum wage (by Federal law), but if he has the ability to earn more but got fired or is umemployed by choice the court can impute more. My ex was making $100K, quit and was very surprised when the court imputed him with $70K.

Even if you can't collect right now, get the arrearages piling up. It gives you an advantage in custody and other disputes and it is forever collectible. If you have to you can wait until he gets social security and have it garnished then.

MyBetterWorld

What child support?! It took almost a year to get the order, but I have never seen a payment. Nor do I expect to.

theuncertainty

Whoops - meant support payments, not custody payments. Sorry about that.

skippernlilg

Oh yes, Uncertainty,

The last time we were before the Judge, we were given the opportunity to watch 'parents' in their orange jumpsuits plead their cases before the judge before our case came up on the docket. There were several of them shackled in court, and trying to give excuses. The Judge wasn't putting up with it. For every $3.25 they made per day while in jail, the judge garnished that for their kids and set the unpaid amounts in arrears. ...

For our case, my ex got 30 counts of contempt for non-payment (working under the table) and instead of getting the decrease he filed for, the Judge ordered an increase. (we were able to demonstrate his increased standard of living). He was on probation for 5 years for that. He did pay faithfully during his probation, and the moment that expired, he quit his job and started dealing drugs.

The top law enforcement office of Texas does not look too highly upon a 'parent' who does such things to avoid their children's support.

I'll let you know how this plays out.

skippernlilg

Oh yes. You should see these guys in orange jumpsuits trying to plead with the family court judge here. Texas does not fool around. Actually Florida is another excellent state for child support enforcement. I've learned a lot about each state's laws during my long process.