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CJane

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? MO

I received a 'Notice and Finding of Financial Responsibility' in the mail yesterday. This is in reference to my youngest and the CS case against his father.

It gives my son's name and DOB states that the child is in my custody, that the respondent is the presumed or legal parent of the child because 'He and the child's mother acknowledged his paternity of CHILD'S NAME by affidavit' and that Missouri has jurisdiction because 'Respondent lives or can be found in Missouri'.

It's my understanding that this is not the actual order, simply a notification of what the order will be barring any appeals/requests for hearings.

There's an amount of support indicated, and also the following:

Pursuant to Section 454.603, RSMo, Respondent should maintain or enroll the above-named child(ren) in a health benefit plan: 1) Available through his/her employer, union or group affiliation that provides services to the area where the child(ren) reside; and 2) in which (s)he is already enrolled or the least expensive plan offered by the employer, union or group affiliation, if not currently enrolled.
Now, I'm not going to run right out and cancel the current insurance on the child (MC+), but if Dad doesn't put him on some form of insurance, is he in contempt? I was NOT expecting an order for insurance coverage, and I'm used to seeing it stated as "When it's available through his/her employer at a reasonable cost".

The papers also state this:

Pursuant to Section 454.505, RSMo, the director will issue an immediate income withholding order to the Respondent's employer or other pwyor when the order is entered or, if Respondent's emplyer is unknown, upon discovery of REspondent's employer, unless the Petitioner and Respondent in a non-TANF case enter into a weitten agreement or good cause exists. Good cause exists if Respondent: 1)posts a bond equal to two months current support 2) agrees to notify FSD of his/her current employer's name and address as long as the support order is in effect; and 3) provides proof that (s)he has obtained or applied for health benefit plan coverage fot the chil(ren) unless the Petitioner has health benefit plan coverage for the child(ren) other than Medicaid. The Respondent must contact the technician named below if (s)he wishes to request exemption from immediate income witholding.
I'm not going to agree to not go the income witholding route, but how long does an employer have to actually begin the witholding? Is income witholding the same as garnishment?

Finally, there's a section that states the following:

If you do not respond to this Notice within 20 calendar days after the date you receive the Notice, FSD will enter an administrative order without your consent. The order will establish the obligations described in this notice.
1. If you and the other party agree to the obligations in this Notice, you and the other party must sign an order that establishes the agreed-upon obligations. Contact the technician named at the end of this Notice if you want to sign an order that establishes the obligations described in this notice.
It goes on to describe how to request an administrative hearing.

My question wrt this part of the paperwork is that if by not responding, the order will be entered... why the part about us agreeing and signing an order? If I just choose to not respond, won't that accomplish the same thing? (assuming he doesn't request a hearing)

If he DOES request a hearing (and given the amount, I'm pretty sure he will - he's already told me it would make him unable to make his Harley payment) is there a timeframe those have to take place in?

The paperwork states that the payments are to begin on June 15. It also states that either of us have 20 days from the receipt of the letter to request an administrative hearing. 20 days after I received the letter is June 12, I think. Obviously I have no idea when he received his copy. Will him requesting an administrative hearing put everything on hold again?

I don't know if he still lives at the address they have listed for him. If he didn't receive this paperwork because they're unaware of his current address, will that be something he can use later to try and get things changed (claiming he was never served)?
 



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