child support guidelines

[4tun8lee]

Question from my husband:
I have two children from a previous marriage.My ex has custody of one child in California, I have custody of the other child in Arizona. Original divorce was in Arizona, I have lived here 10 years. The x and other child have lived in Ca. for 6 years. Which states guidelines for cs modification are used...the state where the original decree is, as one child still lives there and payor (me) works there, or the state which has become the home state of the other child? The child support does not just "even out" for several reasons...I work, the x doesn't, etc. Which is the proper state to even file in for a modification? Thank you.

 

[LegalBeagle]

Were you the one where the mother kept the child and you ended up in AZ court and she used a phone recording against you ?

What happened ?

 

[4tun8lee]

Yes, that is us. The child was returned to us, and is currently doing fine, considering. The judge did not find contempt, and allowed the mother to file a change of custody request. The Sept. 28 hearing was just a 5 minute telephonic to make sure that the child was returned, and the judge did not even appoint the "family therapist" that she was supposed to appoint. No opportunity to bring up the illegal phone call etc. The court received the moms custody request, however neither our lawyer nor my husband was ever served with any papers or anything so I guess she is just dropping it? It's been nearly a month now, and no word. We were going to wait and try to handle everything in our response to her petition, but now I guess we are in limbo, I'm not really sure. Our priority was getting the child home and safe, which for the time being has been accomplished. Since all this time has passed we are kind of wondering what to do. At this time, we have not lost custody so if we took her to the Ca. court on the phone call, we are not sure if anything would really be accomplished, as much as we would like to see justice prevail! So, in answer to your question of what happened, unfortunately not much! Except, of course that we do have the child, which is most important. So I guess thats why we are looking into the child support angle, as my husband is still paying the child support for two children even though he's had the one for 7 years or so. The money wasn't our concern back then either, and we figured with the changes in income, etc. over the years it would probably work out close to what he was paying anyway, and if not, well, the other child would still be benefitting anyway. However, it seems now that the younger child is getting to the age where it is harder for her to qualify for all her state aid without working, and enough is enough, he wants to prevent her from toying with the kids' heads. By the way, is there a statute of limitations or whatever on the phone call thing, can he keep that in his pocket for future use should she actually follow thru with her petition? We are just really confused. Thanks for caring!

 

[LegalBeagle]

There is another reason why you should sort out the CS.. more money in her pocket means more money for legal fees and less money for your legal fees. Yes, I know the CS is for the children, but this is the real world.

A friend of mine suddenly had less petitions served against her the moment she increase CS from 200 a month to 700 a month... and she was able to get the money for a retainer for an attorney with just one months money.

As regards to the phone recording.. personally, I would use it now or never. Just send the court transcripts to the DA of the area and let them deal with it. Point out that the child was not immediately returned because of that evidence. Does not matter that you got the child back later.

Where was the original CS petition filed ? Where was the divorce/custody orders filed ?

 

[4tun8lee]

Sorry for the delay, I got called in to work. The original divorce, custody, CS was in Arizona in 1991, by default as she did not appear. The court orders gave her custody of both children. She then moved to another state, remarried, and had another child. The new state removed the child from the home for abuse, he stayed in foster care while we were checked out by interstate compact...we were cleared, and the new state gave my husband custody, with visitation at his discretion. No new child support was mentioned, the order seemed only to reflect the custody and visitation changes. His x then divorced the newhusband and moved to Ca., where she still is with my husbands other son...She gave custody of her newest child to her 2nd x..the abuser. So, the child support stayed the same as in the original decree, as we couldn't afford the out of state lawyer, and the child was safe. So, here we sit with a past bankruptcy, two mortgages, and a loan against the 401K wondering what the? It's really quite complicated, as I have custody of my own two, but my x and I have been pretty amicable. We would really like to just be done with the whole deal! Anyway, thats why it seems she is always above the law because we've never really held her accountable...one of those "I try to stay out his business with his kids and x..the step-mom thing, you know" So finally, it's coming time to change that and try to hold her accountable now, as she is destroying the children. We tried to keep her relationship with the child going, thus the trip to Ca., at my husbands discretion...with a RETURN ticket. We are not at all impressed with our lawyer, the retainer has about run out, and we are feeling pretty helpless right now. The most recent motion by our lawyer is something to quash the family therapy thing that the judge never appointed, or at least make the x pay for it. She was also ordered in the original divorce to pay 100 percent of all uninsured medical, she's never paid a dime. The new states custody order said simply"parents shall remain liable for medical care" in that regard, so seems still 100 percent for her. Oh, yes, we filed the new custody order as a foreign judgement in Arizona, so the states involved now remain only Az and Ca. Our lawyer also told us that getting a transcript of the hearing would be 350.00 as it is not routinely done. True?I hope this all makes sense...we have made quite a few mistakes in hindsight in dealing with this, and have bitten the bullet too much too long. Can you advise?

 

[LegalBeagle]

Since you have filed the custody order into AZ I would also file a petition for CS under the same case.

Personally, I would dump your attorney. The reason why is that he allowed that taped phone conversation to be allowed into evidence and even worse, only part of the conversation was heard.

I am surprised that SS only took the one child..

 

[LegalBeagle]

Oh, as regards to the court transcript, call the court house and ask them directly rather than through your attorney. Some states charge very little so $350 seems a lot..

 

[4tun8lee]

Thank you...I would like to dump the lawyer too! The thing holding us back there is another retainer for a new one, at least we are on payments with this one now. We still may tho, if this custody thing blows over and we just do the CS thing with a new one...I don't know..we never seem to pick the cream of the crop!! We wanted to try for both kids way back then too, the reason for the one I guess was that the new stepdad had him committed to a mental institution with bruises and black eyes, etc. while the mother was in the hospital having his kid. The state I guess could find no evidence of abuse against the other child, and we couldn't go to virginia to fight. I think the youngest was only 2 or 3 at the time and knew no other parents. We have still only seen him twice since that time..The whole parent alienation thing, another whole story. Which is why we are at the point we are now, trying to say stop already, enough is enough. So, sometime this week we will go to the courthouse, review the whole file, (the on-line docket just gives titles) and ask some questions that need asking. Know any good agressive attnys in Az?! Thanks for your help.

 

[LegalBeagle]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 4tun8lee:
Know any good agressive attnys in Az?! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Call the court house and ask what day do most of the family court hearings take place. Then go along and watch. When you see an attorney that impresses you, ask for their card as they leave.

There are few better ways to pick an attorney than to see one in action.