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Complicated case, missing money

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Pooky's Mom

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL and NY

I am looking to get the arrears on my case corrected/audited and updated. I am not sure how to go about it, since my local county clerk is unable to do it. It is an interstate case, and I have no idea who is supposed to be monitoring the arrears. I thought it was FL (where I opened the case in 1998), but am now being told it is supposed to be NY (where the father lives, and where the newest order was written in 2002).

Background info: I will try to be thorough but brief, though I am not sure what is important information... Please ask questions if necessary! :)

I got pregnant in MS. Before the birth of my baby, I moved to FL to live with relatives. In 1998, I applied for child support in FL. Because I was never married to my baby's father and he still lived in MS, I was told that FL would be able to help me get and order, but then they would only able to monitor the order from MS. Once the MS order was established, FL received the payments, and then sent them to me.

Father moved home, to NY. When it came time for the case to be reviewed, NY modified the MS order, and it became a NY order. There was a brief time that NY sent the payments directly to me, but FL updated/corrected that, and the payments went through FL after that. In 2005, Father quit making payments. The state of NY and the state of FL closed the case. The FL case was reopened in about a weeks time, and the search for Father was on again. (I later found out that he moved back to MS, which is why NY closed the case. After a few months, Father moved back to NY.) Since 2005, payments have been sporadic. FL will garnish his wages, then payments stop after a little while, and the process starts over again. (I assume it is because he is changing jobs.)

In 2014, I realized the CS office and the clerk of court did not have the same balance for arrears. (I had started asking the CS office questions I had not thought to ask before...) The clerk told me the arrears was about $56,000, and the CS office told me it was significantly less. I have no idea why there is such a big difference. When I asked the CS office, they said the clerk's office would be the most updated number. In order to correct the arrears, I would have to go to the clerk's office to get a certified copy of the arrears. When I went in to the clerk's office to get the certified copy (about a month later... wish I had known I needed a certified copy before), I was told the case had been coded incorrectly, and that they had opened a new case. The arrears balance that day showed $500. They told me they would send NY a request for a payment history, child support never goes away without a court order, and everything would be fine...

When FL got the payment history from NY, it showed a zero balance and that the case was closed in 2006. I was told that FL can not audit the case to correct the arrears. I am frustrated. Partly because the state didn't do things correctly, and partly because of my naivety in believing the state would take care of things properly. Everyone I have spoken to says there is nothing they can do... I was told by FL CS that the burden of proof is on me.

Who can I talk to??? What do I need to do??? And how do I prove what is owed??? :confused:

Thanks in advance for any advice/experiences you can share :cool:
 
Last edited:


stealth2

Under the Radar Member
I suspect you need to speak with an attorney. Your situation is too complicated for an Internet board.
 

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