Q: I have child support court tomorrow. Anyway my ex petitioned the child support court in 2016 i never new about it and
She didn't show up to the court hearing. I received a notice from the court that she defaulted owed the court 100 dollars. Now she is taking me back to child support court . since she defaulted do I owe any rears cause she is requesting it in the papers. What are my options
A:
It is hard to tell exactly what the basis for avoiding the child support order would be under this scenario. If a person is not making as much as they used to, they should immediately petition the Court to recalculate the obligation. A judgment can, in some circumstances, be adjusted down retroactively to the date of that filing once the Judge makes an order.
If a person's spouse never obtains a child support order, then it is hard to see why anyone would claim arrears on a non-existent order. In these situations it is important to have an experienced lawyer sort through the complications of the child support dispute and get to the bottom of what a person might owe. The attorney can also, as stated above, make sure that no one is getting paid more than what the child support calculator is showing. Generally speaking, the child support order is effective unless there is a change of circumstances financially and that has been adjusted into the current paperwork. Since the support order is, at least in theory, for the benefit of the children, malfeasance or contempt by one party unrelated to the substance of the Order is unlikely to change the outcome of the Child Support Proceeding.
Some people send their ex monies outside of the Child Support Clearinghouse. This is not recommended. It can be difficult to credit these transfers because they may not be well documented, or might be classified as voluntary gifts made in addition to child support. It is important to have bank records evidencing any such transfers submitted to the Court in an organized way so that the Judge can perhaps credit those transfers. A good attorney can help you with that aspect as well. If there were any wire transfers, use of a special ATM card, or simply checks that document payment of child support, a person might be able to persuade a Judge to credit some or all of those transactions against the arrears.
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