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Overpayment of child support. What happens?

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spoofer

Member
What is the name of your state? WV

My husband pays 500.00 in child support per month. 50.00 of it goes to arrears. So really the support amount the mother is ordered to get is only 450.00 per month. He gets paid weekly. So every week 125.00 is deducted from his account. On months where there are 5 weeks instead of 4 theres an extra 125.00 deducted for a total of 625.00.

He called cse and they said the mother gets 450.00 in child support each month and no more. And the excess goes toward his arrears. They did say his employer could choose to not send the 125.00 for the fifth week during those months with five weeks if they wanted to.

He called his payroll and they said they hold out every week even on those months with five weeks.

So once his arrears are paid off we know cse will have his payroll stop garnishing the extra 50.00 a month. That's no problem. But that will still leave an extra 112.50 going to child support on those months with five weeks.

This extra support goes where? I was told by someone that went through this same situation that the CSE holds that money in an account. And if he falls behind and has arrears they use it to go toward that and when the child turns 18 and he no longer has to pay support if there's any money in that account they give it back to him. Is this true?
 


Yes that's true, any amount left in his account will eventually be refunded to him.
I thought that all child support was calculated at a yearly amount (450x12), then divided by the pay periods (52 for weekly), which would equal the amount to be withheld per paycheck.
If the order that went to his payroll office specifies $450/month, then thats all that his payroll office should be deducting, and he might want to touch base with them.
 
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TinkerBelleLuvr

Senior Member
He needs to review what the order looks like that the employer has. I process payroll, and any order that I receive has it specified on the amount to be taken out of the check, based on being paid weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly.

The employer will have a copy that he should be able to see.
 

spoofer

Member
Well like I said he contacted payroll. And we have a copy of the order sent to them. His HR gave him a copy when it came in. Since they pay weekly they deduct whatever amount cse orders them to deduct per week. The order says 125.00 a week. Even on those months with 5 weeks. But as long as it's going to eventually come back we are ok with it. I mean how many months have five weeks ? I think 3 or 4. It will be nice after all that time to get a check back for that overpayment. I'm sure it will become a substancial amount after about 16 years. Plus I think we both like the idea of there being money in there in case he can't make a support payment one week or something.


So what does "eventually" refunded mean? Will it be like pulling teeth to get it back? Or are they just slow?
 
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Does the order say $450/month and also $125/week?

I say "eventually" because the people there are usually overworked and underpaid, which usually makes things take longer.
 

spoofer

Member
Does the order say $450/month and also $125/week?

I say "eventually" because the people there are usually overworked and underpaid, which usually makes things take longer.
No the order says he's to pay 450.00 a month in child support. And 50.00 a month toward arrears. They are garnishing both support payment and arrears from his paycheck. For a total of 500.00 a month. Of course the cp only gets 450.00 of that.

The cse drew up a paper after the court date going by what his employers pay schedule is and it's broken down as 125.00 a week. That is what his employer has a copy of. And so do we. And his employer says they deduct 125.00 from every paycheck regardless of how many paychecks fall in any particular month.

The issue is not that they are taking too much money from each paycheck. It's that on months with five weeks there's an extra payment for that extra week. We were wanting payroll to not deduct any money that fifth week. I mean his child support is paid in four weeks. Right now the excess is paying on arrears. But after the arrears they will still deduct money on a fifth week even after a modification to stop garnishing the extra fifty dollars a month. So I was asking if that money gets held.
 
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More than likely you can ask for an account printout, or it might be available online, so you can verify the money is what it should be. If the order states $450/month, yet CSE sent something to payroll that states $125/week, they probably won't be too keen on not withholding on the fifth weeks, they're just doing as directed. Ask CSE if they can send something to payroll stating no withhold on fifth weeks, maybe?
 

qurice

Member
Have your husband ask CSE if they can amend their withholding order to more closely match his payroll.

For example, if the normal monthly CS is $450 and if he gets paid weekly, they should withhold $103.85 each week for CURRENT suppoort. (This is $450 X 12 months, then divided by 52 weeks).

In weeks that only have 4 weeks, mom will receive less than the $450 each month, but the extra week months make up for it and evens it out by the end of the year. This is how our CSE does it, so they may be able to handle it the same way.
 

spoofer

Member
Have your husband ask CSE if they can amend their withholding order to more closely match his payroll.

For example, if the normal monthly CS is $450 and if he gets paid weekly, they should withhold $103.85 each week for CURRENT suppoort. (This is $450 X 12 months, then divided by 52 weeks).

In weeks that only have 4 weeks, mom will receive less than the $450 each month, but the extra week months make up for it and evens it out by the end of the year. This is how our CSE does it, so they may be able to handle it the same way.
If you take the 450.00 plus the 50.00 for arrears and calculate them they ARE deducting the appropriate amount. Well we spoke to cse. They said it would be up to his payroll. His payroll said they deduct whatever cse asks them to deduct every week.

I don't care. I just wanted to make sure mom wasn't getting overpaid on those months. And cse clearly stated she's not. But they didn't say what would happen to the excess. But people cleared that up for me.
 

Gracie3787

Senior Member
If you take the 450.00 plus the 50.00 for arrears and calculate them they ARE deducting the appropriate amount. Well we spoke to cse. They said it would be up to his payroll. His payroll said they deduct whatever cse asks them to deduct every week.

I don't care. I just wanted to make sure mom wasn't getting overpaid on those months. And cse clearly stated she's not. But they didn't say what would happen to the excess. But people cleared that up for me.
They are actually deducting almost $10 per week too much.

According to your posts, the court order is for $450 per MONTH.
With an additional $50 per MONTH as arrears payments.

Total per MONTH is $500.

To figure out the correct weekly amount take the $500 and times it by 12 months to get the yearly total, which is $6,000.

Then take The $6,000 and divide it by 52 weeks, which is $115.39. That is the correct amount that should be garnished. When it is done that way, it doesn't matter how many paydays are in each month because the entire total amount is paid at the end of the year.

In a situation like yours, it really doesn't matter too much because the extra paid will just get credited to arrears. However, you'll need to keep close tabs on the arrears balance because it will be piad off sooner than you think it will since so much extra is being paid.
 

qurice

Member
They are actually deducting almost $10 per week too much.

According to your posts, the court order is for $450 per MONTH.
With an additional $50 per MONTH as arrears payments.

Total per MONTH is $500.

To figure out the correct weekly amount take the $500 and times it by 12 months to get the yearly total, which is $6,000.

Then take The $6,000 and divide it by 52 weeks, which is $115.39. That is the correct amount that should be garnished. When it is done that way, it doesn't matter how many paydays are in each month because the entire total amount is paid at the end of the year.
Gracie confirmed what I posted, except her numbers included the arrears :)

If it were me, I'd let them "over garnish" until the arrears are paid off, then try to get the withholding order changed. He can't really "overpay" if he has arrears.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Gracie confirmed what I posted, except her numbers included the arrears :)

If it were me, I'd let them "over garnish" until the arrears are paid off, then try to get the withholding order changed. He can't really "overpay" if he has arrears.
I wholeheartedly agree with this advice. In the long run, its to his advantage to get the arrearages done and over with as soon as possible, so that extra 500.00 a year really helps. He can push to get it changed after the arrearages are paid off.
 

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