Q: I am filing an answer to a Motion to Determine Arrears and I want to know how much to include in my defense.
We divorced 5 years ago but the custody was drawn out and contentious and we just settled out of court recently. I was ordered to pay several hundred dollars/month but did not get a decent job until 2021 and accrued a balance of over $5K. For about a year, I was in court ordered outpatient treatment and in weekly therapy to address mental health issues, so was working low paying jobs during that time. I started a business in sept. 2022 and while I have progressing steadily and am ready to scale (I have documents to show growth), I am still unable to make full payments every month. I do not want or intend to shirk responsibilities, and anticipate being able to pay the full amount soon. Not sure how to make that succinct or if it's appropriate to include everything. I regret settling at the amount of child support that we did, but I was running out of money and I had hoped/anticipated being able to scale the business more quickly so it wouldn't be an issue.
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