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Alimony & Child Support Arrearages

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StrawberryL

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? CA

I live in CA now, but was divorced in NC 8 years ago. My ex-husband owes me alimony & child support for two different cases...seems complicated to me but maybe it will make sense to you "legal types". I'll try to explain in as short a version as I can.

My ex-husband paid nothing until the court forced him to through Child Support Enforcement. I was a stay at home Mom with 3 kids. I returned to work after being out of the work force for 10 years; first at minimum wage but now I make a very good living. My children and I survived only because my Mother was able to help support us.

It took about 18 months for us to come to a financial agreement with our attorneys. The State of NC split the case into two...1) the time period from Date of Sep until the Agreement was signed and, 2) the time period after the Agreement was signed. Even after he signed the agreement he never made a support payment. I think Child Support Enforcement finally brought him to court after 4 years of nonpayment/minimal payment.

Anyway, I was awarded approx $49,000 for the first part of the case; approx $9,000 for the second part which was handled by Child Support Enforcement. Child Support Enforcement now garnishes his wages for child support/arrearages and he pays $41 per month towards the 2nd case (if you do the math you'll find it will take him about 18 years to pay off the 2nd amount awarded as arrearages...yikes).

The larger amount was to be offset by the settlement of marital property assets & debts. We began mediation to come to an agreement about the value of those as we were ordered by the court, but after one visit the mediator signed off that my (then) husband was not willing to mediate. Shortly after that I was granted a restraining order due to incidents of domestic violence and stalking 3 years post sep that I don’t think details would be pertinent to this part of the discussion. The judge also granted that I did not have to go through custody or financial mediation due to the domestic violence/restraining order. I was told that was standard when a RO is granted. I was also given permission to leave the state (that was allowed per the Parenting Agreement) with our children and moved back to CA where my family lives.

We never finished the settlement of marital property. Divorce was granted in 2002, with just this issue pending. We have both remarried; he lives in NC and I live in CA with the children. Our debts/assets were pretty much split down the middle when he left. He pays minimal support, now works as a consultant to “hide” income which has somehow dropped from $125,000/yr to $30,000/yr, all assets have been purchased in his wife’s name. So my questions are: 1) Is there a statute of limitations for me collecting the $49,000 in arrearages; 2) Do I need to file in NC or CA and what do I file; 3)Is there anyway I can ever actually collect any of this money? I borrowed huge amounts from my mother and I would like to pay her back. By the way, I do make payments to her now but it would be wonderful to be able to give her more… and I think he should be held accountable for what the court has ordered him to pay.

Sorry I know this is long...thank you in advance for your advice.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? CA

I live in CA now, but was divorced in NC 8 years ago. My ex-husband owes me alimony & child support for two different cases...seems complicated to me but maybe it will make sense to you "legal types". I'll try to explain in as short a version as I can.

My ex-husband paid nothing until the court forced him to through Child Support Enforcement. I was a stay at home Mom with 3 kids. I returned to work after being out of the work force for 10 years; first at minimum wage but now I make a very good living. My children and I survived only because my Mother was able to help support us.

It took about 18 months for us to come to a financial agreement with our attorneys. The State of NC split the case into two...1) the time period from Date of Sep until the Agreement was signed and, 2) the time period after the Agreement was signed. Even after he signed the agreement he never made a support payment. I think Child Support Enforcement finally brought him to court after 4 years of nonpayment/minimal payment.

Anyway, I was awarded approx $49,000 for the first part of the case; approx $9,000 for the second part which was handled by Child Support Enforcement. Child Support Enforcement now garnishes his wages for child support/arrearages and he pays $41 per month towards the 2nd case (if you do the math you'll find it will take him about 18 years to pay off the 2nd amount awarded as arrearages...yikes).

The larger amount was to be offset by the settlement of marital property assets & debts. We began mediation to come to an agreement about the value of those as we were ordered by the court, but after one visit the mediator signed off that my (then) husband was not willing to mediate. Shortly after that I was granted a restraining order due to incidents of domestic violence and stalking 3 years post sep that I don’t think details would be pertinent to this part of the discussion. The judge also granted that I did not have to go through custody or financial mediation due to the domestic violence/restraining order. I was told that was standard when a RO is granted. I was also given permission to leave the state (that was allowed per the Parenting Agreement) with our children and moved back to CA where my family lives.

We never finished the settlement of marital property. Divorce was granted in 2002, with just this issue pending. We have both remarried; he lives in NC and I live in CA with the children. Our debts/assets were pretty much split down the middle when he left. He pays minimal support, now works as a consultant to “hide” income which has somehow dropped from $125,000/yr to $30,000/yr, all assets have been purchased in his wife’s name. So my questions are: 1) Is there a statute of limitations for me collecting the $49,000 in arrearages; 2) Do I need to file in NC or CA and what do I file; 3)Is there anyway I can ever actually collect any of this money? I borrowed huge amounts from my mother and I would like to pay her back. By the way, I do make payments to her now but it would be wonderful to be able to give her more… and I think he should be held accountable for what the court has ordered him to pay.

Sorry I know this is long...thank you in advance for your advice.
Unfortunately, the CSE probably has no record of the 49k because of the way that you handled it, therefore unless the judge put it on record that he owes that 49k in arrearages (in your divorce paperwork) then you may be SOL. Take your paperwork and consult a local attorney.
 

StrawberryL

Junior Member
More information

Yes the judge put it on record, the amount is accumulating interest according to the order, and the court put a notation on his credit report for both amounts owed.

I'm assuming that I need to contact an attorney in NC?
 

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