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Child Care Expenses

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Grandma B

Guest
My ex son-in-law was ordered to pay 1/2 child care costs for 5 children in temporary divorce hearing. He told my daughter during this period that he had no intention of paying child care or medical (also ordered).

After 18 months of this, my daughter was simply going under and could not afford to pay day-to-day expenses, let alone child care. She is in Nebraska. I came to NE from FL to sit with the children so she could continue to work.

The divorce was granted about 6 months ago. The judge ordered a support amount, again stated he should pay 1/2 child care and med expenses, but said not one word about his not having paid earlier costs. She did get a judgement for the arrearage amount, but he has never filed the papers for withholding from his salary for child support and the arrearage amount.

It's been a year and I'm still here sitting the children. I didn't charge for the period (6 months) before the divorce hearing. Since, I have provided her with receipts to give him for child care. He is to reimburse her his 50% within 15 days. He is still refusing to pay and says that "we all know this is bogus; your mother is not charging you for babysitting." Also said that I'd better be planning on filing a 1099 for these charges. Additional comment to my daughter was that I draw a full pension, yet I am staying here "living off from her" and should NOT be charging for babysitting. Let me assure you that I'd much prefer to be in FL than NE, but these kids and my daughter needed help.

FYI, this dad also doesn't pay full amount of child support monthly, just whatever he has left after entertaining himself for the month. Ordered support is $850; last four months he's paid $500, $500, $350, $350.

Questions:

1. Does it matter who provides child care? Does he not have to pay because it is I who watch the children?

2. What can be done to collect the money?

3. SInce it's my daughter I'm babysitting for, do I need to be claiming income or paying some kind of tax? I certainly want to be legitimate.
 


usmcfamily

Senior Member
What a mess! It is always so sad to see when someone who supposedly committed their lives to a family turn so against innocent children.....as he seems so set to screw your daughter and her children over I suggest she set about screwing him to the wall! First step is going to be that she needs to contact the local child support enforcement office (typically available either through the county courthouse or the local welfare offices) and provide them copies of all the orders so that they can set up a collection account and start the action of forcibly garnishing his wages - he will not have a choice in this matter by "not turning in the papers" as they will deal directly with his employers payroll department and set up the garnishment so that the money is taken out before he even sees his check and forwarded to your daughter(I worked two years in the payroll department of an international company and we had LOTS of these and there was NOTHING except quitting that the employee can do about it as the employer is held to the garnishment by court order). As to the care expenses - the problem you may run into here is that he is only required to pay 50% and by your own admission she is not paying you the other 50% -- so the receipts you are supplying her are in fact untrue and were it questioned in court and you stuck to it you would be perjuring yourself or you would have to admit that they were false and there by negate the amount that he owes your daughter. As you ahve stated that he has not paid any of his care obligation I suggest your daughter finds proof (cancelled checks or receipts) of the time she was paying for child care and use them to at least be able to collect those amounts. So, although she may not be able to collect for the time you have been there she should still be able to collect the amounts he owes for care prior to that. If he continues to refuse to supply the care support she will have to file a case against him for being in contempt of court - well worth the court costs as it should only take once to get the point across that she means business....
The point is this man is NOT standing up to his responsibilities and he has been ORDERED to by the courts - the courts do not take kindly to being ignored or second-guessed!!! Your daughter needs to contact the support enforcement agency immediately - and if that doens't get her satisfaction she needs to find a good family law attorney in her area and start the ball rolling......most are quite willing to work with clients on finances.
Good luck and God Bless
 
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NebrNative

Guest
I have just a few more comments to add to USMC's. Your daughter needs to contact the county attorney's in the county in which the divorce decree was issued (unless it's Lancaster, Douglas or Sarpy County...those larger "metropolitan" counties may have their own enforcement divisions) and 1) get a wage assignment attached to her ex's paycheck. As USMC said, he has no choice. In fact, it's almost always routinely done during the divorce process. 2) She needs to provide the enforcement people (county attorney or whoever) with the receipts for the child care/medical expenses she actually paid to a provider so these amounts can be included in the arrearage. They were court ordered and he hasn't paid them. 3) The state will file a tax offset for the amount of the arrearage. What this means is that if her ex is due a federal refund, it will be seized to pay the child support arrearage. There will also be a lien on any state tax refund that may be due him.

Nebraska has recently really begun to crack down on deadbeat moms/dads. The child support arrearage will be reported to the three major credit bureaus, he won't get his tax refunds, he'll have his paycheck garnished, he could lose his driver's license, passport, any professional license he may hold, and he may find his butt in jail if he continues to be in contempt of court. Good luck!

**I'm not a lawyer...I just have a lot of personal experience with this stuff.**
 
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Grandma B

Guest
She did get a judgement for back support and child care during the divorce hearing. The Judge stipulated that $150/mo be added to his child support payment and that the total be withheld from his checks and forwarded to her. He (Judge) told her ex to go to the Clerk's office that day to file a withhold and transmit, but he hasn't filed it yet (6 months later).

When he does make his sporadic, partial payments, the Clerk's office credits the whole amount to current child support instead of decreasing the amount of the judgement (which is supposed to satisfy the arrearage for child care & med expenses first, then the cs arrearage). This lessens the amount of cs arrearage (on which he must pay interest), and keeps the total current cs arrearage from being as large as it should be. She has talked to the Clerk's office about the application of the funds, but they don't appear to understand how to apply the payments. They say that's not the way they usually do it.
 
N

NebrNative

Guest
Your daughter's ex doesn't have to file any papers at all for the wage assignment. Yeah, if he's going to voluntarily agree to it, he can sign the papers and make life much easier for everyone, but obviously he's not going to do that. The court (district court clerk, county attorney, whoever) can send the garnishment notice (and that's basically what a wage assignment is) to the ex's employer. The ex doesn't have to do a darn thing! Believe me...I know this from personal experience. If he was supposed to be paying $850 a month in support and was ordered to pay an additional $150 a month toward the arrearage, then there should be a wage assignment (garnishment) in the amount of $1000 a month sent to his employer by the court. Your daughter needs to make noise. That's the only way it's gonna happen. Get a lawyer and go back to court, hound the county attorney's office to enforce the court's order. The county attorney's office should be filing a motion for contempt against the ex for failing to comply with the court's order.

**I'm not a lawyer...I just have lots of personal experience with this stuff.**

 
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Grandma B

Guest
Does anyone have a legal opinion on my original questions 1 and 3? Thanks for any help.
 
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usdeeper

Guest
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Grandma B:
Does anyone have a legal opinion on my original questions 1 and 3? Thanks for any help.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The problem is that if you charge for looking after these children, you will need to set up your own business, become a registered daycare, take the appropriate course, declare all your taxes etc etc etc.. and also list the income from your daughter as well as from the father.

Of course, if he is not paying then there is little point anyway and he could always contest the whole setup and a judge may decide it is all a con and not award you anything..

The best thing to do is haul his butt in court for non payment and then when he does start paying, put them into a proper daycare.
 
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Grandma B

Guest
.

[This message has been edited by Grandma B (edited November 01, 2000).]
 
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Grandma B

Guest
Sorry, at the risk of not seeming grateful for your help, I'm almost certain it isn't necessary to take classes, open a day care business, etc., to care for my own grandchildren in their home. Additionally, they couldn't possibly be in a more "proper" day care.
 

LegalBeagle

Senior Member
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Grandma B:
Sorry, at the risk of not seeming grateful for your help, I'm almost certain it isn't necessary to take classes, open a day care business, etc., to care for my own grandchildren in their home. Additionally, they couldn't possibly be in a more "proper" day care.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think you missed usdeepers point, if you are going to charge an amount and then for the mother to pass on 50% of that charge to the father, then you will not get away with YOU sitting at HER house watching YOUR grandchildren and then charging the FATHER.

If you do this without setting up an established daycare, sitting courses associated with the state laws and also doing all the other things that daycares have to do regarding taxes, then the father can refuse to pay and *may* not be forced by a judge..


 
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usdeeper

Guest
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Grandma B:
Sorry, at the risk of not seeming grateful for your help, I'm almost certain it isn't necessary to take classes, open a day care business, etc., to care for my own grandchildren in their home. Additionally, they couldn't possibly be in a more "proper" day care.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Your right, when your daughter in is front of the judge and he asks for proof of payments to daycare, she can hand him your hand written notes with no business name or taxcode. The judge will then order the father to buy her a new car with leather seats.

 
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Grandma B

Guest
PLEASE don't think I'm trying to pull something. This dad was behind over $5,000 in cs and childcare by the time the divorce was even granted. Consequently, my daughter is deeply in debt simply cannot afford a regular day care, and MUST work. I checked NE childcare licensing rules and they state that a license is required if one cares for 4 or more children who are not members of the provider's family.
 
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usdeeper

Guest
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Grandma B:
PLEASE don't think I'm trying to pull something. This dad was behind over $5,000 in cs and childcare by the time the divorce was even granted. Consequently, my daughter is deeply in debt simply cannot afford a regular day care, and MUST work. I checked NE childcare licensing rules and they state that a license is required if one cares for 4 or more children who are not members of the provider's family. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can not help you any further and someone else will have to as you are missing my point. You can look after the children all you want but it is unlikely that a court would force the father to pay 50% of an amount that you specify as charges for 'daycare' of the children.
 

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