Question - CS arrearages owed by BM and transferring custody back in July
The wonderful BM in our lives has been behind on her support payments since 9/2007. She is in arrearages for several thousand dollars and is currently having her wages garnished.
However, my H has decided to allow custody to transfer back to BM at the end of July (when the hearing is scheduled). After SD13 ran away at the end of April, we took a long look at the last two years and then looked forward to the next five years. And H realized that BM will never allow SD or us to live in peace and will continue to disrupt our lives and any chance SD13 has for happiness and success in our home. All H wants is for SD to have some peace and enjoy what's left of her childhood. And if that means he has to give her up and let her live with BM, then that's what he will do.
So......there is no way BM is going to be able to pay back all of the arrearages before custody is transferred. How does CS get worked out when one parent owes the other one? It doesn't make sense for H to pay CS if BM still owes thousands of dollars. Would he simply pay support to BM and then the state will continue to garnish her wages? Or the state will calculate what she owes against his payments until they are at a zero balance, then would he start making payments? Either way works for us but it would be nice to be prepared before the paperwork has been signed.
Has any had any experience with this? Thank you!
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No, but I sure wish I did.
But for reversed reasons. FH owes BM several thousands, but most of that has accrued since he got custody of the kids a year ago. He never filed with the state to have the child support stopped. They aren't coming after him obviously, because BM stopped hassling them about it the minute she though "oh, I might have to pay if I stir this up," so we just thought it had stopped. Dumb? of course, I know that now. But, we definitely need to get it straightened out and I have no idea how it's going to go.
In our case, I think BM can make it all go away, according to our lawyer, but I told him that she's been on government aid, so the state is looking for someone to pay that back and if she hasn't had custody, but has been claiming the kids for the government aid, she's fraudulent and that someone will be her.
I don't know if I'm making any sense, but yes, I would very much like an answer to this question and if we ever get ours sorted out, we've been waiting on a different ruling for nearly 2 months now to pursue this, I'll let the whole ST world know.
Please keep us posted on your sitch as well.
Thank you for your input!
Thank you for your input!
And I will keep you posted on this turns out. I know BM is thinking she won't have to pay for the arrearages if/when custody changes back over to her. She's only in it for the money and she knows H took a pay cut earlier this year, which means the amount of CS he'll pay is going to be a lot lower than it used to be.
Have a great day and thank you!
Never eat more than you can lift.
Miss Piggy
I used to work for the Child
I used to work for the Child Support Unit of DHS in OK so here's my take for what it's worth.
1. Most states have statutory interest that accrues on unpaid child support (here it is 10%)
2. If you have a case open through your state's support registry (name varies from state to state) than the arrears should be referring to the IRS and your state tax agency which then freezes her return and forwards the monies to you toward the arrears
3. If #2 does not apply to you talk to your attorney prior to the court date. Have your documentation neatly summarized (with available proof) with amount of arrears as well as any daycare or medical, etc that she owed. Your attorney can then request that the court turn that amount into a judgment.
4. After the judgment...The court may choose to offset the amounts until it is paid in full or the court can have you paying each other (silly but it's easier for the court to track). If she has to continue to pay under this scenario the amount can still be taken from her wages and/or taxes until paid in full.
Hope that provided some help to you
Right On! Though laws vary
Right On! Though laws vary from state to state, it would seem the basics would remain the same. Thank you for the info. I will cut and past to an email to H and let him know.
He's feeling hurt, angry and depressed right now because of everything that's happened in the last two and a half years. He tried so hard to give SD13 a stable environment so she could just be a kid. But with the help of BM, she completely rejected him. He's hurting and resentful, then this CS thing has come up. BM is such a manipulator that he feels like he's going to get screwed on this as well.
Thank you for your reply and it will be very helpful when we speak to our attorney. Have a great day!
Never eat more than you can lift.
Miss Piggy
By the way....#2 does apply.
By the way....#2 does apply. Three months after H received sole custody and he didn't see any support come through, he asked BM when she was going to start paying. She told him in a very snotty voice to "go through the state". OKAY!
We know the CS Enforcement unit is no longer handling his case, that it's going through the DA in the county the paperwork is filed. We both think they're going after her big time, because she's really pushing the change to the custody and was constantly harrassing H about signing off on an email she sent to him.
Thank you again! We're not sure how this is going to work but your information really helps. Paying CS isn't the problem, H is happy to do it. But he would really like to see BM have some consequences to her bad choices, and follow through on paying the arrearages and medical expenses.
Never eat more than you can lift.
Miss Piggy