soccermoma
Bronze
Reged: 05/04/08
Posts: 30
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My ex and I agreed that he would pay me $ 500 a month in child support 3 years ago. He pays on time most of the time (within 1-2 days of the 1st) This month he only had 250 because his wife lost her job and he filed an ex parte order against me on the 29th of April. What do I do?
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Jada
Platinum
Reged: 06/02/07
Posts: 3190
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[quote]My ex and I agreed that he would pay me $ 500 a month in child support 3 years ago. He pays on time most of the time (within 1-2 days of the 1st) This month he only had 250 because his wife lost her job and he filed an ex parte order against me on the 29th of April. What do I do? [/quote]
If there is a court order that says he pays $500, then he pays $500. I would write him a very polite letter pointing out how the court order states $500 and that he needs to pay you the remainder of what he owes or you will file contempt of court charges. Give him a couple of weeks to comply. And if he doesn't, file contempt of court charges and ask that it is garnished from his wages.
He's not going to be able to get the child support reduced because his wife lost her job. Her income has no bearing on child support.
And he may have ended up shooting himself in the foot. If he is paying less than guidelines, the court will order him to pay guidelines. Unless you agree to less.
Personally, I would ask that it is garnished from his wages. This way he can't just lower it like he did.
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soccermoma
Bronze
Reged: 05/04/08
Posts: 30
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We are going to mediation (court ordered) on the 19th of this month then to court on the 5th of June. I am going to ask that the wages be garnished and he pay guidelines
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Jada
Platinum
Reged: 06/02/07
Posts: 3190
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Since you are going pro se and he's not, you really need to make yourself very familiar with the child support guidelines as well as the ones concerning parenting time. Have you documented his parenting time? He may ask for more parenting time. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but I would insist on the parenting plan staying the way it is now and revisiting it in a year, to see if he has actually utilized ALL of the parenting time that he has. I know that I am bringing your other post from the other board here, but some states do take parenting time into consideration when calculating child support. You don't want him to get credit for time that he is not utilizing.
If you can, I would go and spend a day in family court so that you can see how it works in other cases.
Although, I would get an attorney or at least take any agreement that you come up with to an attorney before you sign it.
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Samsung
Platinum
Reged: 06/14/07
Posts: 1966
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Just a couple things to mention. In most states, child support isn't late until it is after the last day of the month. Thus, he won't be late this month until June 1. Child support will go by guidelines. His wife losing her job usually will play no bearing, unless the child support amount creates an undue hardship, which is uncommon.
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chatter box
Platinum
Reged: 11/09/07
Posts: 1146
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[quote]If you can, I would go and spend a day in family court so that you can see how it works in other cases.
Although, I would get an attorney or at least take any agreement that you come up with to an attorney before you sign it. [/quote]
Both very very good suggestions.
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