Any recourse available to me?

[ula323]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

I am the defendant in an child support modification case ongoing where the Plaintiff's attorney filed a petition for contempt of court for which a show cause order was issued. Their claim is that I am in contempt of court for not providing court-ordered child support of a certain amount. In fact, I am under no such court order (we have a separation agreement that was incorporated, but not merged, in the judgement of divorce that sets the terms for child support) and the amount stated in the petition for contempt was not reflective of the true agreed upon child support obligation (i.e., the number was pulled out of context from a portion of the marital settlement agreement).

I believe the petition was filed as a form of harassment since the plaintiff's attorney was the person who drafted the original settlement agreement and even helped modify the child support amount after the divorce according to the settlement and our wishes. Given the intimate knowledge opposing council has in this situation, I can't help but feel the petition for contempt was filed knowing full well it was meritless and had no legal basis (i.e., our un-merged agreement versus a merged agreement, decree or court order).

Do I have any recourse tantamount to malicious prosecution in this case? It seems like this petition is frivolous to me and should not go unanswered.

Thanks.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

I am the defendant in an child support modification case ongoing where the Plaintiff's attorney filed a petition for contempt of court for which a show cause order was issued. Their claim is that I am in contempt of court for not providing court-ordered child support of a certain amount. In fact, I am under no such court order (we have a separation agreement that was incorporated, but not merged, in the judgement of divorce that sets the terms for child support) and the amount stated in the petition for contempt was not reflective of the true agreed upon child support obligation (i.e., the number was pulled out of context from a portion of the marital settlement agreement).

I believe the petition was filed as a form of harassment since the plaintiff's attorney was the person who drafted the original settlement agreement and even helped modify the child support amount after the divorce according to the settlement and our wishes. Given the intimate knowledge opposing council has in this situation, I can't help but feel the petition for contempt was filed knowing full well it was meritless and had no legal basis (i.e., our un-merged agreement versus a merged agreement, decree or court order).

Do I have any recourse tantamount to malicious prosecution in this case? It seems like this petition is frivolous to me and should not go unanswered.

Thanks.

Frankly, it sounds to me like you are playing word games...and will lose.

 

[tranquility]

In your response, make sure you make the court aware of the problem. If the judge agrees with you, you'll win and the judge may give the other side an order to show cause regarding sanctions.

 

[Hot Topic]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland

I am the defendant in an child support modification case ongoing where the Plaintiff's attorney filed a petition for contempt of court for which a show cause order was issued. Their claim is that I am in contempt of court for not providing court-ordered child support of a certain amount. In fact, I am under no such court order (we have a separation agreement that was incorporated, but not merged, in the judgement of divorce that sets the terms for child support) and the amount stated in the petition for contempt was not reflective of the true agreed upon child support obligation (i.e., the number was pulled out of context from a portion of the marital settlement agreement).

I believe the petition was filed as a form of harassment since the plaintiff's attorney was the person who drafted the original settlement agreement and even helped modify the child support amount after the divorce according to the settlement and our wishes. Given the intimate knowledge opposing council has in this situation, I can't help but feel the petition for contempt was filed knowing full well it was meritless and had no legal basis (i.e., our un-merged agreement versus a merged agreement, decree or court order).

Do I have any recourse tantamount to malicious prosecution in this case? It seems like this petition is frivolous to me and should not go unanswered.

Thanks.

"I believe" is not legal proof. "I can't help but feel" is not legal proof. "It seems like this petition is frivolous" is not legal proof.

 

[ula323]

"I believe" is not legal proof. "I can't help but feel" is not legal proof. "It seems like this petition is frivolous" is not legal proof.

If I *knew* the answers, I wouldn't need legal advice now would I? What I was expecting was some guidance on how the scenario stacked up relative to the legal requirements for proving these legally.

 

[latigo]

If I *knew* the answers, I wouldn't need legal advice now would I? What I was expecting was some guidance on how the scenario stacked up relative to the legal requirements for proving these legally.[b/]

Oh that’s real nice. What better way to get desired results than being obnoxiously demanding? Or in your particular case frenzied outbursts then insultingly insistent.

By the way, somewhere in this furor of yours one might expect to read where you deny being in arrears in your child support obligation – regardless of how documented. Could you point that out to me? I seem to have overlooked it.

And while you are at it please explain your understanding of any significant difference between “court-ordered child support”, and “the true agreed upon child support obligation” with respect to your inherent duty to support your minor children.

Are you representing that no where in the court record, including the judgment and decree of divorce, is there any mention of the subject of your duty to pay child support. Are you contending that opposing counsel has based the motion on whole cloth.

Or are you simply play with semantics as in your, “un-merged agreement versus a merged agreement, decree or court order”.

It simply washes down to a question of whether you are in compliance or not in compliance with the child support obligation. And if you are in arrears and your intention is to avoid a contempt citation simply by reason of the manner in which the obligation was confirmed, then you are due for a jolt.

To reach out to strangers for a prediction when the are benefited by nothing other than your self-serving, bias (and likely selective) impression of the status of the court record is going to get you just where your are now. Peevish, insulting and foot stomping mad.

 

[ula323]

The original question had nothing to do with child support (which explains why I posted it here and not underneath the family court forum). It had more to do with what appeared to me to be questionable legal tactics: I was asking for help in assessing (indirectly) whether this in fact might be the case and what--in a legal sense--could be done about it if so.

Instead, posts like your own offer no advice one way or the other. They instead nitpick a word here or phrase there (written by a non-legal professional no less) without asking for further clarification on what I meant. You know, the way someone genuinely trying to be helpful would do. Really, why bother replying at all if you have nothing to offer other than a rant?

“un-merged agreement versus a merged agreement, decree or court order”[/b].

To label such a distinction as purely semantics when even layman such as myself can look up the huge difference in whether the agreement can be treated as a contract or not tells me all I need to know about your advice: it is uninformed and worthless.

 

[latigo]

God love a duck! Where do you come off with this business that your “original question had nothing to do with child support’? Is it necessary to remind you:

I am the defendant in an (sic) child support modification case ongoing where the Plaintiff's attorney filed a petition for contempt of court for which a show cause order was issued. Their claim is that I am in contempt of court for not providing court-ordered child support of a certain amount.

The status of child support is the very heart of the plaintiff’s Motion for Order to Show cause. A motion, which you claim to be frivolous, drawn from thin air - not supported by the court record – and amounts to “malicious prosecution/persecution”.

Yet you continue to skirt and avoid the core issue. Are you or are you not in arrears in the performance of that obligation?

If you are delinquent – which seems more and more likely – and you think you are going to avoid being cited for contempt by arguing form over substance, then be prepared for a shock.

 

[ula323]

Are you or are you not in arrears in the performance of that obligation?[/b]

No, I am not. Our settlement agreement set an initial child support amount that included a stipend to help pay the mortgage payments on the marital house. Let's say this is amount A. The agreement goes on to state that a certain time after the sale of the house, the child support amount would change to another figure B without the stipend.

Since the time B went into effect, we have adjusted the support amount to account for cost of living increases related to daycare, medical expenses, after school events, etc.., which not surprisingly were always higher than amount B.

Now, with the spectre of the amount dropping below B due to one of the children no longer attending daycare, the Petition was filed claiming I am arrears for not paying amount A.

So, my original question was if the lawyer for the plaintiff who help set up the settlement agreement itself (figure A and the conditions to switch to B), who also helped figure out amount B after the house was sold, then goes on to file a Petition for Contempt claiming amount A is owed after the plaintiff became unhappy with the current support amount, wouldn't that seem misleading (to the court) and wouldn't it drive needless expense on my part to point out the obvious mistake?