6 years of child support overpayment

[gzbird101]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Montana

My son just turned 18 and graduated from school. I petitioned the court to stop child support and it was granted. I just found out through the clerk of court that I have been paying double child support since 2005. My "real" job has been paying and so has the military DFAS since I am in the guard.So instead of paying $316 I have been paying $632 a month and she hasn't reported it and has cashed the checks. From the printouts from the clerk of court, it is excess of $17,000. The clerk of court states it is not their problem. What can I do? Can I sue my ex to get it back and charge her with child support fraud and perjury since she claimed she "only got $316 a month" in my stop pay petition? On top of it she used to be a case worker for CSED so she can't claim ignorance! Do I sue the court for not catching it? Or, since the over pay is military, is it a military issue and I have to go through the military JAG to get my money back?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Montana

My son just turned 18 and graduated from school. I petitioned the court to stop child support and it was granted. I just found out through the clerk of court that I have been paying double child support since 2005. My "real" job has been paying and so has the military DFAS since I am in the guard.So instead of paying $316 I have been paying $632 a month and she hasn't reported it and has cashed the checks. From the printouts from the clerk of court, it is excess of $17,000. The clerk of court states it is not their problem. What can I do? Can I sue my ex to get it back and charge her with child support fraud and perjury since she claimed she "only got $316 a month" in my stop pay petition? On top of it she used to be a case worker for CSED so she can't claim ignorance! Do I sue the court for not catching it? Or, since the over pay is military, is it a military issue and I have to go through the military JAG to get my money back?

It took you SIX years to notice that an extra 316.00 a month was coming out of your pay? I am sorry but that is not credible and won't be credible to a judge either.

On top of that its likely that you would have had an increase in CS during that time period, particularly if you had income from two sources. $316.00 is quite low for CS.

 

[single317dad]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Montana

My son just turned 18 and graduated from school. I petitioned the court to stop child support and it was granted. I just found out through the clerk of court that I have been paying double child support since 2005. My "real" job has been paying and so has the military DFAS since I am in the guard.So instead of paying $316 I have been paying $632 a month and she hasn't reported it and has cashed the checks. From the printouts from the clerk of court, it is excess of $17,000. The clerk of court states it is not their problem. What can I do? Can I sue my ex to get it back and charge her with child support fraud and perjury since she claimed she "only got $316 a month" in my stop pay petition? On top of it she used to be a case worker for CSED so she can't claim ignorance! Do I sue the court for not catching it? Or, since the over pay is military, is it a military issue and I have to go through the military JAG to get my money back?

Contact your JAG office, they can best assist you (although they cannot represent you in court.)

Montana National Guard - Beyond the Yellow Ribbon - Legal Issues

 

[CSO286]

Were you paying directly to her?
Or to the Child support payment center/clearinghouse?

 

[LdiJ]

Contact your JAG office, they can best assist you (although they cannot represent you in court.)

Montana National Guard - Beyond the Yellow Ribbon - Legal Issues

I don't see anything that JAG can do for him. He would need an attorney to have any hope of prevailing, and to be honest, I simply cannot see it happening for him at all.

 

[single317dad]

I don't see anything that JAG can do for him. He would need an attorney to have any hope of prevailing, and to be honest, I simply cannot see it happening for him at all.

I simply feel OP needs family law assistance from someone familiar with his jurisdiction. JAG will offer that, and probably tell him he needs a lawyer and doesn't have much of a case. It won't cost him anything.

 

[CSO286]

It would be my guess that Dad was paying support directly to Mom.

Becaseu if, support was being paid through CSED, they would not be able to send out to the CP more thatn was ordered by the court, and Dad would end up with refunded support sent back to him. Without authorization from him, CSED cannot keep the acase prepaid or paid ahead, so any payments in excess of what was ordered would be returned to him.

Dad--your biggest problem is that are claiming that you didn't notice the withholding from both employers for six years. How do you not see that? A $300 deduction from two different payors?

The court may well see it as a gift. Had you raised a stink about it two, maybe three months in, you might have been able to recieve some sort of credit for the overpayment, but after six years??? You're going to need a very good attorney and you still may not get it back.

 

[gzbird101]

Evidentially nobody is understanding my question.

(1) The court ordered child support payments based on my entire income from BOTH jobs. My support comes directly from "normal" job as it is set every 2 weeks and NOT the military pay that is NEVER the same.
(2) It was not noticed for 6 years as (1) the clerk of court knew about it but states it isn't her job to notify of overpayments, just ussue the checks. (2) We were never given any information of her petitioning for the 2nd order even when the first was still in place, so you don't look for something missing if yu don't know to look for it, and (3) since the military pay is sporadic and NEVER constant a small amount spread out over as many as 4 military checks wasn't noticed AND if you don't know to look for it you don't go online to read the pay stub which is worse than trying to figure out sterio instructions. So, when the stop pay for support was filed we didn't find out until we saw the military overpayment check, then the clerk admitted the overage, then the military. The ex works for child support enforcement so she could have petitioned for modification every 3 years if she chose to, but if she did that then she would have been caught with the overages so she didn't. If the court advised us of her 2nd petition or the overages it would have been stopped immediately. This is a case of her knowing how to work the system. So, NO, it isn't a "gift" and we are not stupid like several of you have implied. And lastly, yes, the court will make her repay as the county attorney has the paperwork and confirmed it was intentional on her part and not only iss it child support fraud which is a felony, but felony theft as well.

 

[Proserpina]

Evidentially nobody is understanding my question.

(1) The court ordered child support payments based on my entire income from BOTH jobs. My support comes directly from "normal" job as it is set every 2 weeks and NOT the military pay that is NEVER the same.
(2) It was not noticed for 6 years as (1) the clerk of court knew about it but states it isn't her job to notify of overpayments, just ussue the checks. (2) We were never given any information of her petitioning for the 2nd order even when the first was still in place, so you don't look for something missing if yu don't know to look for it, and (3) since the military pay is sporadic and NEVER constant a small amount spread out over as many as 4 military checks wasn't noticed AND if you don't know to look for it you don't go online to read the pay stub which is worse than trying to figure out sterio instructions. So, when the stop pay for support was filed we didn't find out until we saw the military overpayment check, then the clerk admitted the overage, then the military. The ex works for child support enforcement so she could have petitioned for modification every 3 years if she chose to, but if she did that then she would have been caught with the overages so she didn't. If the court advised us of her 2nd petition or the overages it would have been stopped immediately. This is a case of her knowing how to work the system. So, NO, it isn't a "gift" and we are not stupid like several of you have implied. And lastly, yes, the court will make her repay as the county attorney has the paperwork and confirmed it was intentional on her part and not only iss it child support fraud which is a felony, but felony theft as well.

Oh, really?

The court told you that? Who at the court told you that?

And who is "we"?

You're either gravely mistaken, or flat out lying.

 

[CJane]

Ya know, it happens pretty often that an order for withholding will be sent to both employers, but usually the employee catches it pretty early on and gets it 'fixed'.

Were you ever in arrears?

CSO - are you sure that distributing overpayments isn't allowed anywhere? Because whatever my ex sends in is distributed to me, and applied either to 'current', 'arrears' or 'future' support.

I'm still not seeing the credibility of not noticing that monies were being wittheld from your guard pay. If you get 4 checks/year, it wouldn't JUST be $300 that was missing, it would be $900, right? You never noticed that your guard checks were short $900? Did you not know how much you should have been making?

 

[CSO286]

Ya know, it happens pretty often that an order for withholding will be sent to both employers, but usually the employee catches it pretty early on and gets it 'fixed'.

Were you ever in arrears?

CSO - are you sure that distributing overpayments isn't allowed anywhere? Because whatever my ex sends in is distributed to me, and applied either to 'current', 'arrears' or 'future' support.
I'm still not seeing the credibility of not noticing that monies were being wittheld from your guard pay. If you get 4 checks/year, it wouldn't JUST be $300 that was missing, it would be $900, right? You never noticed that your guard checks were short $900? Did you not know how much you should have been making?

@Cjane--I am not 1000% certain on every state (Will do some digging into federal guidlines because I think they address this), but the several I have experience with, require that any over paid support be refunded back to the payor, unless the payor indicates that he or she would like to be prepaid on the obligation. But even then, CSED is not permitted to disburse MORE than what is ordered unless arrears exist (I should have stated that) or the payor wishes to be prepaid.

 

[LdiJ]

Evidentially nobody is understanding my question.

(1) The court ordered child support payments based on my entire income from BOTH jobs. My support comes directly from "normal" job as it is set every 2 weeks and NOT the military pay that is NEVER the same.
(2) It was not noticed for 6 years as (1) the clerk of court knew about it but states it isn't her job to notify of overpayments, just ussue the checks. (2) We were never given any information of her petitioning for the 2nd order even when the first was still in place, so you don't look for something missing if yu don't know to look for it, and (3) since the military pay is sporadic and NEVER constant a small amount spread out over as many as 4 military checks wasn't noticed AND if you don't know to look for it you don't go online to read the pay stub which is worse than trying to figure out sterio instructions. So, when the stop pay for support was filed we didn't find out until we saw the military overpayment check, then the clerk admitted the overage, then the military. The ex works for child support enforcement so she could have petitioned for modification every 3 years if she chose to, but if she did that then she would have been caught with the overages so she didn't. If the court advised us of her 2nd petition or the overages it would have been stopped immediately. This is a case of her knowing how to work the system. So, NO, it isn't a "gift" and we are not stupid like several of you have implied. And lastly, yes, the court will make her repay as the county attorney has the paperwork and confirmed it was intentional on her part and not only iss it child support fraud which is a felony, but felony theft as well.

Ok, so you are not saying that the child support payments were being duplicated, but that child support was calculated based on your combined income from both jobs?

If so, then that was accurate. All income is supposed to be taken into consideration in a child support calculation. It isn't fraud or theft at all that all of your income was taken into consideration.

 

[CJane]

Ok, so you are not saying that the child support payments were being duplicated, but that child support was calculated based on your combined income from both jobs?

If so, then that was accurate. All income is supposed to be taken into consideration in a child support calculation. It isn't fraud or theft at all that all of your income was taken into consideration.

I think he's saying both, actually.

That his obligation was based on his total income - and the obligation was $316/month. However, that amount was being withheld from BOTH employers.

He knew about it being withheld from his 'regular' job, but never paid enough attention to his NG checks to see that it was ALSO being withheld from THOSE. And he never looked at a check stub for any reason at all.

 

[Zigner]

The proper person from whom our OP should seek reimbursement is the recipient.

 

[kimberlywrites]

So...do you have an update? You posted this question in August. What's happened since then?