Verbal agreement in front of the judge...

[snodderly]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Alabama

I went back to court with my ex in September. There were 6 issues that had to be hammered out and agreed upon. We came to an agreement on all six issues and went before the judge. Did the "yes sir we agree" thing in front of the bench. My attorney writes up the order, sends it to his attorney. His attorney sits on it for 42 days. My attorney asks the judge to go ahead and sign it and then his attorney finally notifies the court that they are not happy with some of the wording. The wording in the order is EXACTLY as we agreed to in court.

Long story short, the only thing they are now agreeing to is a reduction in child support. Fine with me, it was time, I have no problem with that. My only problem is that some of the other issues that were agreed upon would benefit my children financially and he is now refusing to do that. The reduction in child support and his refusal to follow through on the other issues has left me in a bind financially.

He immediately went down and had the child support allotment reduced. For the last two months he has benefitted from what we agreed to. He is now refusing to do the things that would benefit his children or myself.

It was my understanding that we had a verbal agreement and that nothing took effect until the order was signed by the judge. Is he not in contempt of court over child support since he reduced it without a signed order? For over two months my attorney has been telling me to hold off on things because we didn't have an order in place. Someone want to clear this up for me?

 

[BL]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Alabama

I went back to court with my ex in September. There were 6 issues that had to be hammered out and agreed upon. We came to an agreement on all six issues and went before the judge. Did the "yes sir we agree" thing in front of the bench. My attorney writes up the order, sends it to his attorney. His attorney sits on it for 42 days. My attorney asks the judge to go ahead and sign it and then his attorney finally notifies the court that they are not happy with some of the wording. The wording in the order is EXACTLY as we agreed to in court.

Long story short, the only thing they are now agreeing to is a reduction in child support. Fine with me, it was time, I have no problem with that. My only problem is that some of the other issues that were agreed upon would benefit my children financially and he is now refusing to do that. The reduction in child support and his refusal to follow through on the other issues has left me in a bind financially.

He immediately went down and had the child support allotment reduced. For the last two months he has benefitted from what we agreed to. He is now refusing to do the things that would benefit his children or myself.

It was my understanding that we had a verbal agreement and that nothing took effect until the order was signed by the judge. Is he not in contempt of court over child support since he reduced it without a signed order? For over two months my attorney has been telling me to hold off on things because we didn't have an order in place. Someone want to clear this up for me?

You need to have your Lawyer clarify things with you.

He went down where and had the support reduced ?

You sure there is no signed orders from the court hearing ?

If not it sounds to me, you might want to take it back in front of the Judge , and State the other party is now not willing to agree to our agreements, and somehow the CS is reduced .

 

[snodderly]

You need to have your Lawyer clarify things with you.

He went down where and had the support reduced ?

You sure there is no signed orders from the court hearing ?

If not it sounds to me, you might want to take it back in front of the Judge , and State the other party is now not willing to agree to our agreements, and somehow the CS is reduced .

To be honest with you I think my attorney is a little uncertain herself. She has been in a continuing education course the last 2 days so I was only able to talk to her briefly. I told her I was going to contact his CO and get the paperwork together to send to DFAS to get an involuntary allotment started for the original decreed amount of child support. Her response to me was that I needed to be careful because we have a "verbal agreement."

He is military so the child support comes to me from a voluntary allotment that he set up. He went to payroll, immediately, and had the child support portion of the allotment reduced.

Going back in front of the judge is our only option at this point. It would seem that our only option is to start all over and let the judge decide next time instead of negotiating with him and his attorney because he never follows through on what he agrees to do. Unless, of course, it benefits him in some way.

At this point my major concern is whether or not I have the legal right to garnish his wages. That is something I can do without my attorney's involvement. It frustrates me to know I can't get an answer out of my attorney, can't afford a different attorney and seemingly have no control at all over the situation or any recourse.

It's one of those wracken, fracken situations where you want to pinch someone and there is no one to pinch.

 

[BL]

Until there's a Court Order,you can't go down and have his pay garnished.

 

[snodderly]

So, it's OK for him to reduce the amount he pays without a court order but not OK for me to use the existing court order to re-instate the proper child support? That is puzzling to me.

 

[BL]

I'm confused. Fill me in.

You said he voluntarily paid a CS amount.
Now you are Stating there is a Valid current CS Order ?

If there is a Valid Current CS Order how have those CS orders been paid up until he had the payments reduced ?

Please, Find out from the court if the last agreement were drafted ,submitted,signed by the Judge,and entered into record.

If they were not ,send the Valid CS order with the Letter that it is the only VALID order there is to this point and you want it enforced.

A drafted agreement means nothing without a Judges signature,and it being entered into record.

 

[snodderly]

Thanks and I apologize for not being clear. There is a court order in place regarding child support. His allotment is voluntary but the child support is court ordered. If not the man would NEVER pay a penny.

The latest agreement was drafted and submitted to the court but has not been signed by the judge yet. I know that because, as of late this afternoon, the court clerk told me it had not been signed and it looked as if it would not be signed due to his attorney objecting to some of the "language."

His attorney sent my attorney a letter stating that they want us to sign off on the support reduction and then continue to negotiate the other issues. I don't think so!!

Oh well, thanks again for your response. I will go down to the DA's office Monday morning with the original order and get an income withholding order signed and sent off.