Child Support Modification

[scottklein]

This pertains to the state of Georgia.

My divorce was finalized in June of 2008. My income at the time of the divorce was computed at $8,333. Within 60 days of the final decree was issued, I lost 40% of my income. I ran my credit cards up and sold my shares in a family investment business. I went before a judge in Fulton County to have my child support modified based on losing $3,300 in monthly income. A no brainer right? The judge denied my modification request! What are my options at this point being that I'm essentially broke and can't afford another lawyer? You can see my whole story at:

[url=http://mychildsupportmodificationstory.com]My Child Support Modification Story[/url]What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

[Ohiogal]

How did you lose 40% of your income?

[scottklein]

Job loss. I was out of work for 3 months.

[Dogmatique]

Originally Posted by scottklein

Job loss. I was out of work for 3 months.

Were you laid off?

[scottklein]

Terminated for lack of sales (selling cars).

[Bali Hai]

Originally Posted by scottklein

Terminated for lack of sales (selling cars).

You have 30 days to find a job with comparable income or go to jail until you do. It would be to your benefit to find a higher paying job so that child support will increase.

[Ohiogal]

Originally Posted by scottklein

Terminated for lack of sales (selling cars).

In other words you were fired for cause. Hence that is seen as voluntary. Which means you will most likely not qualify for a downward modification in child support.

[Ohiogal]

Hi Everyone,

My contempt hearing is set for this Tuesday at 1:00pm in front of the same judge *********** that denied my modification hearing. Since the modification hearing I’ve posted a blog on the World Wide Web to let the world know about the injustice I’ve received at the hands of the ******* County Family Court and Judge ***************. SNIPPED
And just so you know, the contempt hearing is for not paying my child support and alimony payment of $3,200 on the first of the month. I paid it in full before the end of the month based on how I get paid on my two jobs. As of June 30, 2009 I will be totally current on all my obligations so if I get thrown in jail it will be for total vindictive reasons not based on not paying my obligations. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome.

Irrational decisions because she did not give you a downward mod? You had two jobs? What two jobs are you currently working? Calling the judge names is not giong to help your case because that attitude will come through in court.

Also portions of your blog postings:

My divorce was finalized in June of 2008. To try and save time, aggravation and money, we settled our case in front of a moderator. The nuts and bolts of the agreement are as follows

So you SETTLED and AGREED and Judge had nothing to do with it but making your agreement an order.

My child support for two minor children (I have 10 year old twin girls) was set at $2,000 a month. My alimony was set at $1,200 for the first 12 months and $600 for the following 12 months. I was responsible for our private health insurance of $470 and 60% of the out of pocket medical expenses that averaged over $100 per month for the first 12 months.

Was your alimony modifiable?

All in all, my out of pocket net proceeds that I needed to pay my obligations were $3,800 (that figure is actually rounded down somewhat). Or to put it another way, I needed to gross $4,900 a month or a yearly salary of $58,000 just to pay my obligations. At the time of the divorce my income was computed at $8,333 a month which was somewhat inflated due to proceeds I received from a family business. My expenses for rent, car payment, insurance, gas, food, and miscellaneous expenses were about $2,500 per month. The $3,800 plus my expenses totaled about $6,300 a month which would be extremely tight. I was banking on all the planets staying in perfect alignment from all my income sources to keep that figure in the same ball park for at least one year

You allowed it to be computed at 8333 and did not dispute it. In fact you agreed. You made a bad bet and broke the bank. Why should your children suffer for your lack of foresight and bad betting?

Unfortunately, the stars and the moon didn’t cooperate with my desires and within 60 days after my divorce was finalized, I lost 40% of my income overnight. So let’s do the math…40% of $8,333 is $5,000 gross. $5,000 gross equates to about $4,000 net per month. I lost $2,400 a month in take home pay. I was just barely getting by; a reduction of $3,300 of income would soon take it’s toll. If my child support, alimony, insurance, and out of pocket medical expenses ran $3,800, that left me with $200 to live on. Or to put it another way, for every dollar I took home, I had to give my ex wife .95. How fair is that??

40% of 8333 is 3333.20 actually. NOT 5000. 5k is what you were left with. You should not have agreed to such a high alimony payment and it should have been made modifiable but you don't mention that. You agreed to it. Why did you make a bad deal? Why did you get fired?

Opposing council’s argument for not modifying my child support was that my alimony was going down $600 as of June 1st and I was paying $320 less for health insurance for the girls. According to opposing council’s figures, I was already getting a 30% reduction in my obligations so a modification was not necessary.

Okay

I think my lawyer could have done a better job countering opposing council’s reasons not to modify my support. First of all, the 30% figure opposing council stated was wrong. It was only 24% and he didn’t catch the miss statement. Secondly, he didn’t do a simple calculation of my income versus my expenses. I have rent to pay, a car payment, food, gas, auto insurance, and miscellaneous expenses totaling about $2500 per month. With my expenses and my child support/alimony obligations I needed to take home $6,300 a month.

Your expenses do NOT matter. At all. That is what you do not understand. When it comes to child support YOUR PERSONAL expenses matter not.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by Bali Hai

You have 30 days to find a job with comparable income or go to jail until you do. It would be to your benefit to find a higher paying job so that child support will increase.

Bali, a newbie is going to have no idea that you are being sarcastic.

[Ohiogal]

That’s a $8,000 a month job, and since I was only making $5,000 a month something needed to give. On top of that, my take home pay was only $4,000 and I was paying $3,800 in total obligations leaving me with only $200 to live on. The big reduction in opposing council’s argument would put an additional $600 in my pocket, but living on $800 a month is still unreasonable.

With all the facts on the table Judge ** seemed to buy opposing council’s argument ). She denied any modification and her famous last words were, “A deals a deal, and I’m not modifying this agreement.”

Being a homophobe does not give you points. Seriously. You made a deal. YOU AGREED to this amount. Just because it was a bad deal doesn't mean it gets changed.

Losing the case was unfathomable to me. It was a total injustice and a living example of the incompetency and bias decision making process of Judge **.. The mission statement of the ** County Court says, “To provide the citizens of ** County, customers of court services, and practicing professionals the highest level of justice (equality and fairness) in a timely and economical manner.”

The highest level of justice equality and fairness? I guess I don’t have a good grasp on what justice, equality and fairness represent. If this case represented those three virtues, I’d hate to see what one of Judge ** cases looks like without the trio of qualities she stands by.

Unfortunately for me, losing this case was just part of the overall equation of how I got raped by “the system.” Earlier I mentioned that my attorney quoted a price of $7,500 to handle the child support modification case. Now keep in mind, the contempt hearing was an add on but it sure couldn’t have equated to $10,000 worth of work. No, that’s not a misprint. The total bill from my attorney was $17,701. In other words, I spent $17,701 for absolutely nothing…nadda…zilch!

What is so bad that are you being held to the AGREEMENT you made? What you signed off on? YOUR agreement was made a court order. YOU had a say in this. If you want to complain about your attorney's bill look at the contract you signed. How much was the hourly rate? How much time did your attorney spend?

And wait, there’s “insult to injury” here as well. When I got the final order from the court, it was adjudged that I pay an additional $5,000 for opposing council’s attorney’s fees (between the divorce, the original separation agreement, and this modification attempt, I’m paying opposing council at total of $8,500). How’s that for a slap in the face? Not only do I have to pay my attorney $17,701 for nothing, I have to pay opposing council’s attorney fees of $5,000

Really? Why do you have to pay opposing counsel's fees? Oh because you were found guilty of contempt?

And there’s still more sports fans! Since I didn’t pay my ex wife the required child support and alimony amount on the 1st day of May the required amount of $3,200, she had me served with another contempt order. The divorce decree states that I have to pay the $3,200 on the first of every month. So technically, I’m in contempt if I don’t pay on the first of the month. That in of itself was reason for modification. The way I get paid, I’ll never have that sum of money on the first day of the month (or $2,600 now that the alimony went down $600).

Well technically you are in contempt. You can be found guilty for such. You are talking about PURGING the contempt by paying late and before court but that does not mean you were NOT in contempt.

[Dogmatique]

'K, OG. You got me there. I'm actually speechless. (darn good sleuthing, btw)

Would be terribly nice if occasionally - just occasionally! - a poster would actually post the real, relevant story without omitting possibly critical facts.

Seriously though - if all a person can do is find ways to insult the judge, they really don't have much going for them.

Legally OR otherwise.

[Ohiogal]

Originally Posted by Dogmatique

'K, OG. You got me there. I'm actually speechless. (darn good sleuthing, btw)

Would be terribly nice if occasionally - just occasionally! - a poster would actually post the real, relevant story without omitting possibly critical facts.

Seriously though - if all a person can do is find ways to insult the judge, they really don't have much going for them.

Legally OR otherwise.

He posted the website. I just read it and posted it here. His major problem is he agreed and within two months of the AGREEMENT becoming the order he was looking to modify it. Now he has a bad attitude regarding the judge and, quite frankly, that attitude will seep through and color his behavior in the courtroom.

[quincy]

Ohiogal, you may want to remove the blog postings you quoted. A republisher of libel is just as responsible for the libel as the original speaker. Even when accurately quoted.

And you have also increased any damages that could be awarded against our OP here, should the Judge decide to sue for defamation (not likely, but a possibility).

[Ohiogal]

Originally Posted by quincy

Ohiogal, you may want to remove the blog postings you quoted. A republisher of libel is just as responsible for the libel as the original speaker. Even when accurately quoted.

And you have also increased any damages that could be awarded against our OP here, should the Judge decide to sue for defamation (not likely, but a possibility).

I know you like the quote feature here. But I would watch what you quote (and to whom).

Yes'm. Not trying to libel this judge. Should have thought of that earlier. Thanks for the reminder. I think I got it all removed.

[Dogmatique]

Originally Posted by quincy

Ohiogal, you may want to remove the blog postings you quoted. A republisher of libel is just as responsible for the libel as the original speaker. Even when accurately quoted.

And you have also increased any damages that could be awarded against our OP here, should the Judge decide to sue for defamation (not likely, but a possibility).

I know you like the quote feature here. But I would watch what you quote (and to whom).

Well crivens, you learn something new every day.

It had never occurred to me that republishing - even if it is only reporting the original offending material - could land the publisher in hot water.

(see, this is why I hang here so much. More knowledge!)