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child support calculation

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thankyou

Member
az
we just had a court conference to calculate support and arrears.
I'm afraid my x got out to cheap due to his smooth talking lawyer and
the fact that he didn't bring any bank account information. He just brought
his tax information.
The letter said he was to bring his bank statements from the past 6 months.
He didn't and when I asked my attorney about him not having them she didn't
respond, twice!
We reached an agreement and deviated from the guidelines because of an
illness he has and due to the high cost of medications he takes as well as not
being able to get health insurance due to his illness.

I'm wondering if I should take him back to court to make sure the correct amount
was calculated. I know it would probably cost me thousands more dollars. Any
suggestions?
 


Happy Trails

Senior Member
thankyou said:
az
we just had a court conference to calculate support and arrears.
I'm afraid my x got out to cheap due to his smooth talking lawyer and
the fact that he didn't bring any bank account information. He just brought
his tax information.
The letter said he was to bring his bank statements from the past 6 months.
He didn't and when I asked my attorney about him not having them she didn't
respond, twice!
We reached an agreement and deviated from the guidelines because of an
illness he has and due to the high cost of medications he takes as well as not
being able to get health insurance due to his illness.

I'm wondering if I should take him back to court to make sure the correct amount
was calculated. I know it would probably cost me thousands more dollars. Any
suggestions?
I'm not much help in this forum, but have you used the "Arizona Child Support Guidelines Calculator" to see if the amount that you settled for is fair?

http://www.supreme.state.az.us/childsup/

I'm sure you will get other responses, as I said I don't respond in this forum much.
 

thankyou

Member
Hi, yes I've looked at Arizon's guidelines and the amount we agreed upon was
much lower than the guidelines. Actually, probably about 1/3 less than what he
would have owed if we went by the guidelines.

Another question. Is support calculated from ALL income? I think he may have
some income from some investments but since he didn't bring his bank statements
we probably didn't find out exactly what his income in. Like I said, I think I let
him off to cheap and now I'm starting to regret it.
 
thankyou said:
az
we just had a court conference to calculate support and arrears.
I'm afraid my x got out to cheap due to his smooth talking lawyer and
the fact that he didn't bring any bank account information. He just brought
his tax information.
The letter said he was to bring his bank statements from the past 6 months.
He didn't and when I asked my attorney about him not having them she didn't
respond, twice!
We reached an agreement and deviated from the guidelines because of an
illness he has and due to the high cost of medications he takes as well as not
being able to get health insurance due to his illness.

I'm wondering if I should take him back to court to make sure the correct amount
was calculated. I know it would probably cost me thousands more dollars. Any
suggestions?
Wow! If you weren't in another state I would think that you have my former attorney (as of today)...In 2004 my attorney pulled this same stunt, and to this day the child support calculation is way off....I would talk to a different attorney (ask for a free consultation as if you were unrepresented, and see if their advice differs from what your attorney did) If I were you...Just My Opinion, having been there and done that with and attorney that acts as if they are getting paid by the other team, and not you....Good Luck to you!
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
The problem is THEY REACHED AN AGREEMENT. She may be starting to regret it but that is not a legal reason to get it overturned. She may have made what she feels like is a bad deal but she didn't have to agree. I hate when people agree to things and then get "buyer's remorse" and think that is a reason to get it overturned. It isnt.

The advice I can give you is to deal with it. YOU AGREED! You weren't blinded. You could have forestalled agreeing and went to court. You could have forced the issue about the bank accounts but you didn't. YOU AGREED.. You didn't sign under duress and you didn't have a gun held to your head. YOU AGREED. Regretting that does NOT give you a reason to go back to court. You would be wasting your time, energy and money.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
Also, although it is an agreement and we don't know exactly what that agreement entails, most (if not all) states require a waiting period before any such recalculation can be again brought before the court. It varies between 1 and three years.
 

thankyou

Member
I did agree to the amount but I wasn't at the conference physically, I was on the
phone. I could not hear half of what was being said and my attorney acted like
there wasn't enough time to explain things to me. I told her if she thought the
amount was fair to go ahead and accept it because she told me that we should
negotiate an amount lower than the guidelines so we wouldn't have to go back
to court.
I was not there to sign anything but I did say I agreed to it over the phone.
Is this final?
There was no mention of the bank statements that he was supposed to bring
to the conference so I have no way of knowing if he has any investments or
any other income besides what was on his federal income tax returns.

I think I'm going to start looking for another lawyer.
How soon can I file to modify the amount in Arizona?
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
thankyou said:
I did agree to the amount but I wasn't at the conference physically, I was on the
phone. I could not hear half of what was being said and my attorney acted like
there wasn't enough time to explain things to me. I told her if she thought the
amount was fair to go ahead and accept it because she told me that we should
negotiate an amount lower than the guidelines so we wouldn't have to go back
to court.
I was not there to sign anything but I did say I agreed to it over the phone.
Is this final?
There was no mention of the bank statements that he was supposed to bring
to the conference so I have no way of knowing if he has any investments or
any other income besides what was on his federal income tax returns.

I think I'm going to start looking for another lawyer.
How soon can I file to modify the amount in Arizona?
Well...I don't think that your attorney handled it properly with you, however you should realize that since he has an illness that requires expensive medications and since he is not insurable, it would be quite normal for a judge to give him a hardship reduction. Therefore, even if you were able to take it back to court, the end result might not even be as good as what you have already agreed to accept.

In addition, any income he has from investments would show up on his tax return. His tax return is a better indication of his actual income than his bank accounts. Unless you have reason to believe that he has "under the table" income, there is no real reason to look at his bank statements.
 
LdiJ said:
In addition, any income he has from investments would show up on his tax return. His tax return is a better indication of his actual income than his bank accounts. Unless you have reason to believe that he has "under the table" income, there is no real reason to look at his bank statements.
LdiJ:

A lot of information could be gathered from the bank statements. Unusual deposits, spending patterns, debitor info., etc.

For $20, I could buy a TurboTax disc and produce a nice new income tax return that I might accidentally forget to include my investment income on. And you can bet next time I have to submit my bank statements in discovery, I'll have a seperate checking account for that purpose also -- nice and neat!

Does this guy live in a $MM home, drive luxury cars, etc.? Why would OP figure that he has other REAL money? What kind of assets did he have when OP was with him? If there's no significant evidence (he lives in a low-rent area, drives a Yugo, etc.) then don't waste your time/money for a pipedream of $30 more in support a month.

In AZ, you can go back for a support review in a year if there's a significant/continuing change in circumstances. If there was FRAUD (he won the lottery last month) you can appeal the order as soon as you can PROVE it.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
thankyou said:
I did agree to the amount but I wasn't at the conference physically, I was on the
phone.

That is not our fault nor the court's. You were served and were present.


I could not hear half of what was being said and my attorney acted like
there wasn't enough time to explain things to me.

Then you should nto have agreed.


I told her if she thought the
amount was fair to go ahead and accept it because she told me that we should
negotiate an amount lower than the guidelines so we wouldn't have to go back
to court.

You gave your attorney permission to accept it for you. As your respresentative she accepted and it is final.


I was not there to sign anything but I did say I agreed to it over the phone.
Is this final?

yeah since you told your attorney to accept and she did.
There was no mention of the bank statements that he was supposed to bring
to the conference so I have no way of knowing if he has any investments or
any other income besides what was on his federal income tax returns.

Tough. YOu should have brought that up during the hearing and made sure you found that out before settling. YOu screwed up and the consequence is living with this agreement for a while.

I think I'm going to start looking for another lawyer.
How soon can I file to modify the amount in Arizona?
I don't see where you're attorney screwed up. You gave her permission to accept the settlement. YOu didn't tell her to press for those documents. You didn't think it was important enough to appear in person. You made a bad deal and must deal with it now.
 

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
LdiJ said:
Well...I don't think that your attorney handled it properly with you, however you should realize that since he has an illness that requires expensive medications and since he is not insurable, it would be quite normal for a judge to give him a hardship reduction. Therefore, even if you were able to take it back to court, the end result might not even be as good as what you have already agreed to accept.

In addition, any income he has from investments would show up on his tax return. His tax return is a better indication of his actual income than his bank accounts. Unless you have reason to believe that he has "under the table" income, there is no real reason to look at his bank statements.

there is absolutely nothing in what she said that shows her attorney didn't handle it properly though. She gave her attorney permission to agree to the settlement. She didn't tell her to agree only if it was X amount of dollars or higher.
 

thankyou

Member
Trust me, my attorney didn't handle it properly. It wasn't really the conference
past she didn't handle well, it was previous to that. She has made all kinds
of mistakes. It took me a little over a year since I first hired her just to get
a calculation appointment all due to my attorney's mistakes.
 

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