Ex-Husband is behind on child support

[Kristy83]

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

Ok, my ex-husband is behind over $1500.00 in child support. We have a court date on the 17th which is Wednesday but my question is that he claims he had no idea about this court date. Can they go ahead and garnish his wages or anything without him being present at court or does he also have to be there? Now mind you, I haven't stopped him or threatened to stop him from seeing our daughter even though he wasn't paying. Because I knew that was not the mature or right thing to do. He was always allowed to see her and call her anytime he so chose to. He has left town and I have no clue where he is but he said he isn't coming to court and he isn't paying the child support. What will they do to him and again can they still go further Wed. without him being at court?

Thank you for your advice in advance.

 

[Proserpina]

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

Ok, my ex-husband is behind over $1500.00 in child support. We have a court date on the 17th which is Wednesday but my question is that he claims he had no idea about this court date. Can they go ahead and garnish his wages or anything without him being present at court or does he also have to be there? Now mind you, I haven't stopped him or threatened to stop him from seeing our daughter even though he wasn't paying. Because I knew that was not the mature or right thing to do. He was always allowed to see her and call her anytime he so chose to. He has left town and I have no clue where he is but he said he isn't coming to court and he isn't paying the child support. What will they do to him and again can they still go further Wed. without him being at court?

Thank you for your advice in advance.

Previous thread:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/child-custody-visitation-37/what-do-551339.html

 

[Kristy83]

what was the comment

 

[Proserpina]

what was the comment

It pointed to your previous thread. You know, to help other folk who may want to check the history.

Didn't think it was that complicated.

 

[Kristy83]

Oh ok. I didn't know how all this worked. I know I have posted twice before but those issues were resolved and we have been getting along for some time and now for 4 months he hasn't paid a dime of child support and I was just wondering about what I asked in my earlier comment.

 

[CSO286]

I am going to be nice and answer this without looking at your posting history first.

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TN
Ok, my ex-husband is behind over $1500.00 in child support.

That's actually not a significant arrearage**************What is the monthly obligation?

We have a court date on the 17th which is Wednesday but my question is that he claims he had no idea about this court date.

What is the purpose of the court date? Comtempt? Modification? Status update?

ETA---Read the other thread: are you looking to get Dad ordered to cooperate with little Sally's extracurricular schedule?

Can they go ahead and garnish his wages or anything without him being present at court or does he also have to be there?

The can order that he make his payments thruogh income withholding, which means his employer would be responsible for taking the money from his paycheck and sending it in to TN CSED (or equivalent) for processing and they would send it on to you.

Now mind you, I haven't stopped him or threatened to stop him from seeing our daughter even though he wasn't paying. Because I knew that was not the mature or right thing to do.

Also illegal.

He was always allowed to see her and call her anytime he so chose to. He has left town and I have no clue where he is but he said he isn't coming to court and he isn't paying the child support.

IF a non-custodial parent is determined to not pay support, he or she will be able to get away with it--for quite some time. It does always seem to catch up to them, though. My office is collecting from a few NCP though their social security benefits......

What will they do to him and again can they still go further Wed. without him being at court?

Thank you for your advice in advance.

Possilbe issue a warrant for failure to appear. Again, it depends on what the purpose of the hearing is.

There are lots of different enforcement remedies CSED has access to to encourage compliance with the court order.

They include:

Tax refund intercepts
Driver's license suspension
Student grant holds
Passport denial
Credit bureau reporting
Hunting/fishing licens denials
Occupational license suspension


Any of these actions could be ordered by the court.

 

[stealth2]

Was the ex actually served?

 

[mistoffolees]

Possilbe issue a warrant for failure to appear. Again, it depends on what the purpose of the hearing is.

More importantly, it depends on whether OP can prove that Dad was properly served. Dad claims he was not.

 

[CSO286]

More importantly, it depends on whether OP can prove that Dad was properly served. Dad claims he was not.

You are right.

What is Dad's argument regarding improper service, OP?

Depending on the type of hearing, proper service could have been at the last known address.

If we are talking contempt or some thing else, then personal service could have been required.

 

[Kristy83]

Thank you all so much for your input. We were unable to go to court because they are not able to find him. He has disappeared from the area and no one knows where he is or how to reach him.

The law here says that his $1500 is quite abit to be behind.

Due to him not being around they couldn't serve him but whenever that happens they said he would have to pay back all the back child support or lose his privileges of drivers license, fishing/hunting license, and garnish his checks.

Anyway, thanks for the input but I have called and spoken to an attorney in my area for legal advice and they have told me what I can do and what I can do about some of the things I asked on here. They were a lot nicer when answering my questions than some of the people on here.

But for those who were nice and thought of how they would feel and didn't just throw their "non-caring" lawyer talk-advice into the mix. Thank you so much!

 

[Proserpina]

Thank you all so much for your input. We were unable to go to court because they are not able to find him. He has disappeared from the area and no one knows where he is or how to reach him.

The law here says that his $1500 is quite abit to be behind.

Due to him not being around they couldn't serve him but whenever that happens they said he would have to pay back all the back child support or lose his privileges of drivers license, fishing/hunting license, and garnish his checks.

Anyway, thanks for the input but I have called and spoken to an attorney in my area for legal advice and they have told me what I can do and what I can do about some of the things I asked on here. They were a lot nicer when answering my questions than some of the people on here.

But for those who were nice and thought of how they would feel and didn't just throw their "non-caring" lawyer talk-advice into the mix. Thank you so much!

I suggest your attorney looks up "purge amount" and "negotiation" before telling you that your ex MUST pay back ALL of the arrears in order to keep certain things...unless you simply misunderstood what you were told.

And you're welcome.

 

[CSO286]

Thank you all so much for your input. We were unable to go to court because they are not able to find him. He has disappeared from the area and no one knows where he is or how to reach him.


The law here says that his $1500 is quite abit to be behind.

Due to him not being around they couldn't serve him but whenever that happens they said he would have to pay back all the back child support or lose his privileges of drivers license, fishing/hunting license, and garnish his checks.

It depends on what the monthly obligation is. You, know, one of the several questions, I asked...please do answer them. And there was very little snarkiness on your thread.

ETA: And several of the enforcment remedies I listed can be done administratively--meaning that Dad doesn't need to be served for them to be utilized. He received notice in the initial court order that they were tools available to encourage compliance with the order. (Of course, this assumes that the TN equivalaent of CSED is enforcing your order--another question you failed to answer.)

Ex--If Dad is ordered to pay $900/mth in support, than $1500 in arrears isn't a lot. If Dad was ordered to pay $2500/mth, it's not even all that actionable. Now if Dad's obligation is $75/mth, then that is certainly substantial. See? It's all relative.

And why isn't the support being taken out via income withholding (garnished from his checks)?

 

[Just Blue]

Posting Hx folks,