Need Advice for Brother...Please

[grinchmas]

What is the name of your state?Florida

My brother and his ex have one child together and initially my brother was awarded to pay about 1000.00 per month based on an income of 120,000. He kept trying to show that he no longer made that annual salary but was not getting anywhere. He kept paying 500.00 per month until the day he left. He moved out of the country because there was a contempt of court charge out and he feared arrest. He now realizes he never should have left and we are trying to help him get this resolved. He has not seen his son in 3 years and he cannot get anyone to normally answer the phone when he calls. He does have an income in the country he lives in but the exchange rate basically means that for every 100.00 in Brazilian money is about 30.00 American. He can only afford to send about 200.00 a month in American money. He is driving a car that barely goes and living day to day. He has been sending 1125.00 per month for the last 6 months. We want him to go to court and have the amount lowered but he feels like they will never do that. Any advice would be much appreciated. We really want him to be able to return to the US and salvage any relationship he can with his son.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state?Florida

My brother and his ex have one child together and initially my brother was awarded to pay about 1000.00 per month based on an income of 120,000. He kept trying to show that he no longer made that annual salary but was not getting anywhere. He kept paying 500.00 per month until the day he left. He moved out of the country because there was a contempt of court charge out and he feared arrest. He now realizes he never should have left and we are trying to help him get this resolved. He has not seen his son in 3 years and he cannot get anyone to normally answer the phone when he calls. He does have an income in the country he lives in but the exchange rate basically means that for every 100.00 in Brazilian money is about 30.00 American. He can only afford to send about 200.00 a month in American money. He is driving a car that barely goes and living day to day. He has been sending 1125.00 per month for the last 6 months. We want him to go to court and have the amount lowered but he feels like they will never do that. Any advice would be much appreciated. We really want him to be able to return to the US and salvage any relationship he can with his son.

I have no sympathy for your brother. Tell him to return to the US....take his licks like a man and get a job and pay his child support.

 

[grinchmas]

I have no sympathy for your brother. Tell him to return to the US....take his licks like a man and get a job and pay his child support.

He has a job and is coming back to deal with this, but everytime he dealt with it initially she took him back to court and the end result is he spent 130,000 and lost his home.....you can only make so much money and it does not take 1000.00 per month to raise a child. I am not trying to be difficult but please do not judge....I am just looking for legal answers to what to expect. Surely not everyone in this world can afford to pay 1000.00 per month or the child support system would not be income based.

 

[Ambr]

What is the name of your state?Florida

He can only afford to send about 200.00 a month in American money......He has been sending 1125.00 per month for the last 6 months.

I don't understand these comments. If he is making a considerable less amount of money working in a different country and can only afford $200 per month in CS --- how is / has he been paying $1125 per month for the past 6 months????

If he is paying out of savings --- he needs to take the savings and make a LUMP SUM payment on his arrearages.

When he goes for a reduction, he will have a hard time explaining.......

(1) why he basically fled the country to get out of his support payment
(2) why he left a country where he was capable of making $120k a year to a place where he can only make $36k a year.
(3) how if he can only pay $200 a month, he has been paying $1125 a month for the past 6 months.

To be honest, it all sounds pretty bad on his part. He not only fed the country for his benefit, but he has given up contact with his child to boot. Sympathy for him, won't be adbundent.

He can file a modification with CSE and see where it goes. Most state CSE offices have the modification request packages available on line.

 

[Ambr]

http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor/childsupport/modification.html


He can also access the office that is over his case, locate case information and make payments on line. All he needs is his case #.

 

[grinchmas]

Ann,
Sorry that was 125.00 per month. When he left the country he had not been making 125,000 in atleast 2 years before he left. He owned his own business and he made over 125,000 one year and that was the figure that got used. He does not have any lump sum in savings at all. He has an extremely old car that he uses only when necessary and lives in a house with NO modern convienences. He sends his son packages often(monthly) and sends him emails all the time, and calls weekly. He of course gets no reply to emails, or letters. When he calls which is quite expensive they just do not answer. He realizes none of this will be easy, but I am just not sure how living in another country will impact the whole situation. He will probably wind up moving back when this gets cleared, but he does not have the money to keep going back and forth to court to fight a loosing battle. What is an average of child support payments usually? I really felt his originally was high....I myself only receive 236.00 per month, but I don't get that and it is not enough to worry over since dad is not around, but I am sure since it was ordered 12 years ago it would get raised if I pursued it.

 

[Gracie3787]

Ann,
Sorry that was 125.00 per month. When he left the country he had not been making 125,000 in atleast 2 years before he left. He owned his own business and he made over 125,000 one year and that was the figure that got used. He does not have any lump sum in savings at all. He has an extremely old car that he uses only when necessary and lives in a house with NO modern convienences. He sends his son packages often(monthly) and sends him emails all the time, and calls weekly. He of course gets no reply to emails, or letters. When he calls which is quite expensive they just do not answer. He realizes none of this will be easy, but I am just not sure how living in another country will impact the whole situation. He will probably wind up moving back when this gets cleared, but he does not have the money to keep going back and forth to court to fight a loosing battle. What is an average of child support payments usually? I really felt his originally was high....I myself only receive 236.00 per month, but I don't get that and it is not enough to worry over since dad is not around, but I am sure since it was ordered 12 years ago it would get raised if I pursued it.

Wow, your brother sure has gotten himself into a HUGE mess, but he can still do things to make things right. The very first thing is this- in your original post you stated "we" want him to have a relationship with his son. The problem is this- does YOUR BROTHER WANT TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT? If he does, there are several harsh realities that he needs to be aware of and ready for:

1. The contempt charge : apparently he left the country because of the charge. I am sure that the contempt hearing was held even tho he wasn't there. Most likely the Judge issued a bench warrant for contempt and failure to appear. That warrant still exists, and he will go to jail upon his return. Once he is arrested he will go before a Judge who will then set a "purge" amount. This amount will probably be high and he will stay in jail until it is paid, so he should be prepared to pay at least $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 up front.
Now that purge is set only if the contempt charge was/is a CIVIL contempt, however, he may have been, or may be charged with CRIMINAL contempt which is a whole different animal. You can help your brother find out which one it is by going to courthouse and reading his file.

2.His passport : If his passport has not been revoked yet, because he already fled the country, it is almost guarenteed that it will be revoked upon his return. So he needs to understand that he will have to stay here once he comes back.

3.Modification of on-going CS : this WILL NOT be done at the contempt hearing. He will have to file a petition for modification and get a seperate hearing. It would also be in his best interest to ask the court at that time to set a specific amount( in addition to on-going support) as arrears payments. The reason for this is that any time there is a contempt hearing the amount of arrears are ESTABLISHED by CO, once they are established NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING gets credited to those arrears WITHOUT A SPECIFIC COURT ORDER.

As you can see, it will require a big change in your brother's life, but it is what he really NEEDS TO DO. I do understand and sympathize with how hard Florida family court Judges are on NCP's (which is probably why the original order was set so high and why he couldn't get it lowered) my guess is that the Judge IMPUTED income to him based on previous earnings. However, no matter how unfair the courts can be, it is no excuse for him running, and it is IMPOSSIBLE for him to avoid this forever. If he doesn't do it now, he'll end up having to pay it when his son is in his 20's, 30's, or even his 40's.

I hope he does what he needs to do, and I wish him luck.
Gracie

On a more positive note: the fact that he has been paying SOME support, and has tried to have contact with his son SHOULD work in his favor, but only if he proves payments made and contact attempts made.

 

[grinchmas]

Gracie,
Wow thanks for all the exact info. I will pass it along and see what else we can do to help him and to answer your question he absolutely wants to get this corrected and spend time with his son.

 

[Gracie3787]

Gracie,
Wow thanks for all the exact info. I will pass it along and see what else we can do to help him and to answer your question he absolutely wants to get this corrected and spend time with his son.

Wonderful. I'm glad I could help bring a Father and son closer.
Gracie