what can a defendant do when in 3 family orders the judge keeps making the same mistake that are impacting all 3 orders

Question

Last june the judge ordered the plaintiff to provide me with the child's amount of social security benefits by that July 11.  They did not and ignored the order and as a result I could not get numbers to adjust my child support.  I had to hire a lawyer to file a motion to enforce.  When the order arrived from this action the judge made the mistake that my filing was to "reconsider" the june order, not to enforce it.  As a result, she did not say the plaintiff was in contempt.  I reconsidered and same thing happened....she simply did not read the origianal motion prioperly.  It amazingly happened a third time.  I am in time to file to reconsiser the may 4 order, but how will the previous orders be treated, as they are out of time, and also this mistake impacts them too.  Does rule 1-13 allow me to treat the previous orders, or is that just for simple clerical errors?

Richard Diamond · Answer

Is it safe to say that the lawyer you hired to file that application was not a family law specialist? From what I can glean from your inquiry, you have a child support obligation and your child is receiving social security benefits as a result of social security benefits being paid out as a result of your social security claim or the other parents social security claim. The judge directed the other party to provide you with a statement from social security detailing the amount of the benefits being paid out to your daughter, which information you believe is needed to recalculate your child support obligation. The other parent did not provide you with the information sought and you then hired a lawyer to file an enforcement application to compel the other parent to turn over the materials sought. And since then, you have filed 2 more applications with the court seeking the same relief and you believe that the court is not understanding what you are seeking and is not requiring the other parent to provide you with the information you want and is not holding her in contempt for not providing the information needed to permit you to recalculate child support. The only alternate thing I can think of ( off the top of my head, without seeing the various orders and applications) is whether the social security payments are what are called "means-tested benefits" for the child, which  are excluded as income  for both parties in the child support guideline calculations. My suggestion is that you contact the lawyer who previously represented you and ask him / her to explain to you why the court did not do anything to enforce its prior order. Ask him to write it out for you if needed so that you have a clearer understanding but I agree with you that something is missing from this story and you need to get a better handle on it.

Q: what can a defendant do when in 3 family orders the judge keeps making the same mistake that are impacting all 3 orders