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Back child support, bankruptcy, modify support??

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What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Texas

Will try and keep this short and simple, but no promises!

My husband makes on average $1080 a month from self employment, after business expenses. When he was divorced, the only way his ex would sign the divorce papers was for him to agree to $300/mo in child support for their now 12 year old son. (She originally wanted $800). At the time, his lawyer told him that he only was obligated to pay $180, but he agreed to the $300. He also took on approx. $80,000 in credit card debt from the marriage, she took none of it.

We managed to keep up to date on the support for awhile, and got the debt paid down to $25,000 in less than 3 years. In the past year, things have happened - had to move the business, moved to a different rental, car repairs, etc. - that put us behind in support and other bills. Most of these debts are still those left from his previous marriage.

After much deliberation, we decided to file for Chapter 13, and are just weeks away from doing so, all the paperwork is underway and has been for about a month now.

In the mail this morning, my husband got a letter from the AG stating that the child support amount per month is now $443/mo to cover health insurance, back support, interest, and current support.

The Chapter 13 does include the back child support as a priority debt. We have already spoken to our lawyer about this, and it's still undecided as to what will be done now.

He wants to get his original support order modified, and we know the process of how it's done. The thing is, we can not afford an attorney in anyway to do this for him. Is it possible to do this himself? And if so, where would he find the forms to do it?
To top it all off, his ex does not let him see his son very often. She put him off for 9 months the last time. (they live in another city) When we do get him, we do provide what clothing, etc, that we can afford. This afternoon, his ex called, wanting my husband to help buy parts for a motorcycle that she bought for their son.

I don't want to come off that he is a deadbeat dad in anyway. But, he is having problems with her now talking about also trying to raise the support (we know this can't be done, don't worry). In the last 5 years of their marriage, it was discovered later that not only had the credit cards been run up and that their were twice as many cards than he knew about, but she had also managed to siphon off approximately $48,000 from the business . (She would tell him that she was spending the money on supplies, etc, when in fact she was putting them all on the credit cards - this is why we only have about $1600 left over after business expenses, and it has been less some months) This money still has not been found, though 2 different savings accounts were discovered also after the fact, by that time, all the $ was gone out of them.

We know that in 5 years after the debts are all finally paid off, our financial situation will improve, and at that time, we will be more than happy to let her modify the order again to raise the support.

I help in the business, and take home a wage of $520/mo from it. (Book keeping, doing part of the services for clients, etc.) I also wait tables 4 days a week, 7 hours a day to supplement our income. Even with this, we barely make it. I also pay child support, and am also behind. I have told my ex about the bankruptcy and that he will start recieving current payments by July 15, and payments towards back support by the end of August. He has no problem with it, and also no probs with visitations.
 


haiku

Senior Member
honestly? as a self employed person I would never walk into child support court without a lawyer and after a visit to my excellent accountant.

you are looked at under a microscope.

at this point what she did before the divorce is water under the bridge, got to move on from it as there isn't anything he can do about it.

the bankruptcy will likely be looked at easing the financial burden, and making it easier to make your debt payments.

if there are issues with the visitation, and she is not following the court order he can take her to court to enforce the order.
 
When we started filing bankruptcy, we have been put under a microscope ever since. That is how we know the exact amounts of what we take home from the business, the percentage each of us make off it, etc.

So, now the big question, how can we hire a lawyer for it when we are not allowed to incur anymore major debts for five years?
 

rzack

Member
Try go to google and do the search. You can try this one too, "attorneys assistance for low income texas"
 

mrsbrown

Member
Your husband, the non-custodial parent, has just as much right to request a modification as the custodial parent. As do you for your child support payments as well. Before going to a lawyer you might want to contact Social Services or DHR or who ever handles child support in Texas. We have been working with DHR in Alabama and have been so far able to avoid a lawyer.

readytoscream said:
When we started filing bankruptcy, we have been put under a microscope ever since. That is how we know the exact amounts of what we take home from the business, the percentage each of us make off it, etc.

So, now the big question, how can we hire a lawyer for it when we are not allowed to incur anymore major debts for five years?
 

stealth2

Under the Radar Member
I hate to say it, but..... if his business is producing so little income - perhaps he'd be better off shutting it down and taking a different job.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
You also need to be aware that if any if the debts you are putting into the bankruptcy also have her name on them, then the creditors WILL go after her for whatever portions they are unable to collect through your chapter 13. She will then be entitled to file contempt charges against your husband for failure to pay the debts.
 
To answer a lot of these at once....

We CANNOT afford a lawyer. That is why we are wanting to get the paperwork to file it himself.

As for the "so little income".......the business produces a hell of a lot more than we can take home. It is the past debts that are driving down the take-home amounts. We shell out another $1600/mo on past debts, and another $1500 on monthly expenses for the business.

The Chapter 13 is going to pay off ALL the debts, we made sure of that.



Edited for spelling
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
readytoscream said:
To answer a lot of these at once....

We CANNOT afford a lawyer. That is why we are wanting to get the paperwork to file it himself.

As for the "so little income".......the business produces a hell of a lot more than we can take home. It is the past debts that are driving down the take-home amounts. We shell out another $1600/mo on past debts, and another $1500 on monthly expenses for the business.

The Chapter 13 is going to pay off ALL the debts, we made sure of that.



Edited for spelling
You don't understand...in a chapter 13 the creditors are limited to principal only and must make other concessions...they will still be able to go after her for whatever concessions the trustee forces them to accept....if the debts were joint.

If the debts were business debts, but had both name as debtors, and he kept the business, then she shouldn't suffer for that. If the debts were marital debts rather than business....I don't understand how you can be charging them off to the business.
 

haiku

Senior Member
readytoscream said:
To answer a lot of these at once....

We CANNOT afford a lawyer. That is why we are wanting to get the paperwork to file it himself.

As for the "so little income".......the business produces a hell of a lot more than we can take home. It is the past debts that are driving down the take-home amounts. We shell out another $1600/mo on past debts, and another $1500 on monthly expenses for the business.

The Chapter 13 is going to pay off ALL the debts, we made sure of that.



Edited for spelling
Why are you counting the marital debts against your business profit? It should be what your business makes minus business ONLY debt. Then you figure out the profit.....
 
The credit cards were in his name, with her added as a signing party.

She then put charges on the personal cards that were actually for the business. Therefore, and I don't really understand this, but we can use it on our personal bankruptcy.

Things have gotten worse now....she is again denying visitation. This time because her car got broken into at church. (Do not ask, I don't understand it either.) My husband offered to come get their son (a 100 mile round trip) to bring him here. He was told no. He even offered to make both the trip to pick him up and drop him off, was again told no. She told him that the divorce papers say that anyway. (They don't, the responsiblity on that is divided, one does it on Friday, the other on Sunday.) She then wouldn't answer the phone.

She (his ex) also has another child by another father. He called today wanting to know if we knew what was going on with everything. It seems she is again trying to raise his support, and has been denying access to his child for about nine months. Then out of the blue, she called him the other day to tell him my husband had made her mad and she wasn't going to be letting him see his son due to this. But now he is more than welcome to come pick up their daughter, and if he wants can pick up my husband's son for the weekend too......
 
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