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Question regarding back child support.

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B

bobinok

Guest
What is the name of your state? Oklahoma

I have some questions in regards to my girlfriend’s situation with her ex-husband. So as quick as I can I will try to summarize up the situation.

My girlfriend has four kids with her ex-husband. They were divorced while living in California which is where the custody/visitation/support arrangement was filed. She has since moved to Oklahoma with the four kids. They both verbally agreed to a new custody/visitation arrangement and agreed that he would pay the original support amount. Even though he is making much more money, and she is making much less (I know this means nothing since she didn’t go back to court and request a new agreement). Anyway, they both naively thought that this was ok since they were getting along so well, and they both thought that they didn’t need to file anything with the court as far as custody/visitation goes.

So fast forward a year, and things aren’t going so smoothly. He has stopped paying child support, and has said that he won’t pay anything for a three month period. He said that since he had been paying "extra" money the whole time that he doesn’t need to pay for those months. Well the "extra" he is referring to is money that he verbally agreed to pay to help with medical bills, health insurance, birthday parties, gifts, etc. . . He voluntarily paid it, but now he is saying that he can count it towards child support.

Well here are my questions.

1) Can he apply voluntary extra payments that he made over the years to actual child support and just not pay for a certain period of time?

2) If she does go after him in court for back child support and to raise the existing child support amount will she get in trouble for moving to Oklahoma without notifying the court?

3) Is there anything she can do now to make sure that he doesn’t try to get her in trouble for moving even though he approved the move?
 


BL

Senior Member
1 ) About the the move : If the court order specifies certain requirements for the move , it was suppose to be fallowed.
Even If she can't produce permission, that fact that he knew the whereabouts all the time and did nothing about it would suggest he was OK with it.

2 ) Support : Support orders remain in full force and effect until modified.
A Petition would have to be filed, then support, medical, Etc. would have to be gone over to decide the outcome.

If you decide to file a Modification Petition, any New amount would be from the Filing date .
 

VeronicaGia

Senior Member
bobinok said:
What is the name of your state? Oklahoma

I have some questions in regards to my girlfriend’s situation with her ex-husband. So as quick as I can I will try to summarize up the situation.

My girlfriend has four kids with her ex-husband. They were divorced while living in California which is where the custody/visitation/support arrangement was filed. She has since moved to Oklahoma with the four kids. They both verbally agreed to a new custody/visitation arrangement and agreed that he would pay the original support amount. Even though he is making much more money, and she is making much less (I know this means nothing since she didn’t go back to court and request a new agreement). Anyway, they both naively thought that this was ok since they were getting along so well, and they both thought that they didn’t need to file anything with the court as far as custody/visitation goes.

So fast forward a year, and things aren’t going so smoothly. He has stopped paying child support, and has said that he won’t pay anything for a three month period. He said that since he had been paying "extra" money the whole time that he doesn’t need to pay for those months. Well the "extra" he is referring to is money that he verbally agreed to pay to help with medical bills, health insurance, birthday parties, gifts, etc. . . He voluntarily paid it, but now he is saying that he can count it towards child support.

Well here are my questions.

1) Can he apply voluntary extra payments that he made over the years to actual child support and just not pay for a certain period of time?

2) If she does go after him in court for back child support and to raise the existing child support amount will she get in trouble for moving to Oklahoma without notifying the court?

3) Is there anything she can do now to make sure that he doesn’t try to get her in trouble for moving even though he approved the move?
Is there a court order for child support? Is he paying all of his support through the child support enforcement office? Did he pay all the extra things through the child support enforcement office?

If there is a court order for child support, she will have to file a contempt of court action against him once he actually gets behind. If there is no court order, he doesn't have to pay and has never been under any obligation to pay. A verbal agreement will not hold up in court. A court order will only be valid from the date of filing. Why would you ask about back support when he's been paying all along? If there is a court order for support, it cannot be modified retroactively.

Also, if he still lives in CA, that is where the case will have to be heard.
 
T

tracijck

Guest
bobinok said:
What is the name of your state? Oklahoma

I have some questions in regards to my girlfriend’s situation with her ex-husband. So as quick as I can I will try to summarize up the situation.

My girlfriend has four kids with her ex-husband. They were divorced while living in California which is where the custody/visitation/support arrangement was filed. She has since moved to Oklahoma with the four kids. They both verbally agreed to a new custody/visitation arrangement and agreed that he would pay the original support amount. Even though he is making much more money, and she is making much less (I know this means nothing since she didn’t go back to court and request a new agreement). Anyway, they both naively thought that this was ok since they were getting along so well, and they both thought that they didn’t need to file anything with the court as far as custody/visitation goes.

So fast forward a year, and things aren’t going so smoothly. He has stopped paying child support, and has said that he won’t pay anything for a three month period. He said that since he had been paying "extra" money the whole time that he doesn’t need to pay for those months. Well the "extra" he is referring to is money that he verbally agreed to pay to help with medical bills, health insurance, birthday parties, gifts, etc. . . He voluntarily paid it, but now he is saying that he can count it towards child support.

Well here are my questions.

1) Can he apply voluntary extra payments that he made over the years to actual child support and just not pay for a certain period of time?

2) If she does go after him in court for back child support and to raise the existing child support amount will she get in trouble for moving to Oklahoma without notifying the court?

3) Is there anything she can do now to make sure that he doesn’t try to get her in trouble for moving even though he approved the move?
What fun it is to be divorced with children.
Your original papers will outline the custody and C/S payments....................I have been through the same thing w/ my husband and his ex.
Here is what we did...........
From this very moment, get everything in WRITING between the parties, It will save the headache, AND he said, she said....................
If he is paying her, through C/S, all monies he has deposited in that account count towards support, even If he is paying extra, we did that. If the account is audited, and he is over his amount for the current date, he may stop paying until his overpayment catches up.........that happened to us, but only 1 months worth. 9Follow up on this). My husband was unemployed (fired) and did not work for 4 months, we sent C/S at a greatly reduced rate, later we were told that he did not have to send anything at all until he was employed again. Of course, that has to be paid eventually. (Is he unemployed, or just not paying on purpose)?
Medical, here in Texas, is seperate, and is an additional expense. My husband provides this coverage, at his own expense, AND pays 50% of all medical, as per his papers.
He is not required to pay ANY additional monies towards, Birthday parties, sports, extracurricular activities, etc.....
And, he doesn't because the award is high, he pays the medical plus 50%.
If the order has not been modified than she cannot get back child support, UNLESS he is paying in cash, or direct deposit without receipts.................happened to us, one time, husband sent money directly to her account ($ 2,600.00) in a 6 week period, and all monies were considered gifts...................he ended up in the arrears w/ interest.
If he is paying through the courts, it is counted towards his account. If not, than yes, she can.
Check the time lines, she may be able to request modification every 3 years, she could here.
If moving has been over a year and he is not protesting, I would think that the court would wonder why he hasn't protested yet, RIGHT, I would not worry!!!!!!!!!!!!
The home state may be Oklahoma, since the children have resided there for over a certain period...........i believe that Oklahoma will govern the outcome of this case.
Check the States statutes, and or codes in the Family section, it should answer all of your questions in detail.
Good Luck!!!!
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
If the account is audited, and he is over his amount for the current date, he may stop paying until his overpayment catches up
And once again Traci is wrong. This time, dangerously wrong.

Poster, you may NOT stop paying your support, even if you are paying more than the order specifies and are paying through a state agency. Simply put, Child support is a bill like any other and until the court changes or modifies the order, you owe that bill each and every month.

YOU, or the state agency may not change the standing order. Only the court can do that.

The home state may be Oklahoma, since the children have resided there for over a certain period...........i believe that Oklahoma will govern the outcome of this case.
And again wrong. Oklahoma has no jurisdiction at all over this matter. The residence of the children applies to change of venue (domestication) ONLY if and when both parents no longer reside in the home state (or issuing state where the original order was granted).

In this case, the father still resides in California therefore, California retains jurisdiction.

Next time traci at least tell the poster you have absolutely no idea about the law and even less idea about the subject matter of which you attempt to speak.
 
B

bobinok

Guest
Thank you everyone for your replies. I think I have the information I needed now, but just to clarify the situation I will answer a few of the questions some of you had.

Yes there is a court oder in California for him to pay $1,200 a month in child support. The order says that he is to pay $600 on the 1st and 15th of each month.

No he isn't paying through any CSE division. The payments have always been paid directly to the mother. He has always paid on time, and has always paid extra for health insurance, dental care, gifts, etc . . .

Yes the move was over a year ago, and he hasn't officially protested anything. In fact he has visited on at least two occasions, and I'm sure that we could find emails where he states that he is happy that the children seem to be better off in Oklahoma.

We are thinking that she may go ahead and file to try and get the back child support. Since it appears that he can't come after her for moving without notifying the courts. Although what we are afraid of now is that he may just stop paying all together. As of right now we are approximately 1 month into his moronic 3 month non-payment period. So in approximately two months he will supposedly start paying again, and since it has been really difficult already she really can't imagine how she will get by if he doesn't pay at all and she has to wait for CSE to collect the money.

Anyway, thanks again. You guys have answered my preliminary questions, so we at least have a good idea of what to do. I'm sure she will be talking with her lawyer, or some other officials regarding this situation here soon.
 

VeronicaGia

Senior Member
bobinok said:
We are thinking that she may go ahead and file to try and get the back child support. Anyway, thanks again. You guys have answered my preliminary questions, so we at least have a good idea of what to do. I'm sure she will be talking with her lawyer, or some other officials regarding this situation here soon.
You are confusing back support with arrears. Since there is a valid court order for child support, if he doesn't pay it, he will be in arrears. She only needs to file a contempt action or a motion to enforce the order and she will easily win the argument in front of a judge.
 

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