What is the name of your state? Ohio.
I have an upcoming child support administrative hearing and I am curious to know if others have gone through this and found it beneficial to have an attorney present.
The hearing stems from an administrative adjustment review in which the CSEA found that the child support that I owe should be lowered by about 17%. My ex requested the administrative hearing.
The reason that I ask is that from my reading the powers that are granted to the Hearing Officer are limited to ensuring that the child support calculation was done correctly and that all the information used in the calculation is correct. My understanding is that deviations from the child support worksheeet and schedule can only be considered by the court, not the CSEA.
If I am correct in my reading, I am not sure that an attorney would be able to add much to the proceedings. I can see the efficacy of employing an attorney for a court hearing as this deals with much more squirrelly concepts (phrases such as "any other relevant factor" are sprinkled liberally in the sections dealing with the court hearing) and I am not confident in my abilities in that case. If the administrative hearing deals only with the facts of the case, should I feel confident in my ability to represent myself or are there gotchas waiting for me?
As you may have surmised, I am not in a position to afford an attorney right now. However, I am not fishing for people to give me a false sense of confidence -- if I am heading into a buzzsaw, I'd like to know
Thanks!
I have an upcoming child support administrative hearing and I am curious to know if others have gone through this and found it beneficial to have an attorney present.
The hearing stems from an administrative adjustment review in which the CSEA found that the child support that I owe should be lowered by about 17%. My ex requested the administrative hearing.
The reason that I ask is that from my reading the powers that are granted to the Hearing Officer are limited to ensuring that the child support calculation was done correctly and that all the information used in the calculation is correct. My understanding is that deviations from the child support worksheeet and schedule can only be considered by the court, not the CSEA.
If I am correct in my reading, I am not sure that an attorney would be able to add much to the proceedings. I can see the efficacy of employing an attorney for a court hearing as this deals with much more squirrelly concepts (phrases such as "any other relevant factor" are sprinkled liberally in the sections dealing with the court hearing) and I am not confident in my abilities in that case. If the administrative hearing deals only with the facts of the case, should I feel confident in my ability to represent myself or are there gotchas waiting for me?
As you may have surmised, I am not in a position to afford an attorney right now. However, I am not fishing for people to give me a false sense of confidence -- if I am heading into a buzzsaw, I'd like to know
Thanks!