What does he do?

[kpepperz]

What is the name of your state? IL

My husband's ex is ordered to pay $200.00/week for CS, and it is garnished from her paycheck. Well, she currently is $400 behind ($200 from April and $200 from a week ago) and we were just informed that she just had a baby and is taking 12 weeks off (family leave act), which will cause her to fall behind to the tune of $2800. A few questions:

1) My husband is getting nowhere with her employer OR her regarding the amount that is current in arrears. They both said it was taken out, and the ex wife said it's not her problem anymore. Where does he turn?

2) Since she is going to be off for 12 weeks, is she still responsible for the $200/week garnishment? Talking to her results in a screaming match and she thinks she is above the law. Is he able to file a motion in court regarding her being in arrears or does he go thru ILSDU for enforcement?

We would like to avoid using an attorney, as we have alot of medical bills that we are paying, and extra money is scarce. She refuses to split extras (medical copays, sports equipment, extra-curricular activities, etc) with us, and with her teenage son and college bound daughter, we need that CS. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LdiJ]

If the employer has been regularly withholding the CS from her pay...then any missed payments are due to the employer, not mom...so your husband needs to get CSE to address that with the employer.

She is certainly obligated to pay the child support during her maternity leave. However, since she will have no paychecks it won't be withheld from her pay, and you will have to go back to court to get extra withheld from her pay to cover the arrearages during her leave, if she doesn't voluntarily make the payments.

 

[abstract99]

You cannot force mom to work and chances are that she has been orderd by a doctor not to. I think that there might be a chance that due to the doctor ordering her not to work that she might have been able to put the 12 weeks of payments on hold but since she has not done it I don't think she can now. My old roomate just had a baby last week via c-section and there is no way that in her condition she can work right now. You will have to support the kids on your own until you can have the payment raised from her checks.

 

[NoDiggety]

You cannot force mom to work and chances are that she has been orderd by a doctor not to. I think that there might be a chance that due to the doctor ordering her not to work that she might have been able to put the 12 weeks of payments on hold but since she has not done it I don't think she can now. My old roomate just had a baby last week via c-section and there is no way that in her condition she can work right now. You will have to support the kids on your own until you can have the payment raised from her checks.

I wouldn't count on this. Just because the ex decided to have another baby doesn't mean that the children she had previously should have to suffer. While quite a few mothers work until the last minute during their pregnancy, it's well known -- and suggested -- that the mother take it easy and not work during the last few weeks of pregnancy. But that should not -- and probably will not -- relieve the mother of financial responsibility of the child.

 

[ceara19]

I just want to add one more little piece of advice. Dad has no business going to mom's EMPLOYER! I have known more then a few people that have ended up losing their job because an ex was "disruptive".

 

[ceara19]

I wouldn't count on this. Just because the ex decided to have another baby doesn't mean that the children she had previously should have to suffer. While quite a few mothers work until the last minute during their pregnancy, it's well known -- and suggested -- that the mother take it easy and not work during the last few weeks of pregnancy. But that should not -- and probably will not -- relieve the mother of financial responsibility of the child.

No one has claimed that mom will be relieved of he financial obligation. However, there is no way to FORCE anyone to actually WORK.

 

[moburkes]

You cannot force mom to work and chances are that she has been orderd by a doctor not to. I think that there might be a chance that due to the doctor ordering her not to work that she might have been able to put the 12 weeks of payments on hold but since she has not done it I don't think she can now. My old roomate just had a baby last week via c-section and there is no way that in her condition she can work right now. You will have to support the kids on your own until you can have the payment raised from her checks.

Just because she is off for 12 weeks doesn't mean that a doctor required it. The original post simply stated that she was using FMLA time. OP might have vacation or sick pay due to her, which would mean that as long as she has a paycheck, there might be money that is garnishable. OP might also get a disability check for some of the time, but that more than likely isn't garnishable, because, by the time child support enforcement even KNOWS about it, there are no more checks coming.

People with c-sections go back to work sooner than 12 weeks all the time.

Child support arrearages don't go away, unless they are paid, but, again, people shouldn't depend on the child support $ to pay their bills.

 

[Zephyr]

What is the name of your state? IL

My husband's ex is ordered to pay $200.00/week for CS, and it is garnished from her paycheck. Well, she currently is $400 behind ($200 from April and $200 from a week ago) and we were just informed that she just had a baby and is taking 12 weeks off (family leave act), which will cause her to fall behind to the tune of $2800. A few questions:

1) My husband is getting nowhere with her employer OR her regarding the amount that is current in arrears. They both said it was taken out, and the ex wife said it's not her problem anymore. Where does he turn?

2) Since she is going to be off for 12 weeks, is she still responsible for the $200/week garnishment? Talking to her results in a screaming match and she thinks she is above the law. Is he able to file a motion in court regarding her being in arrears or does he go thru ILSDU for enforcement?

We would like to avoid using an attorney, as we have alot of medical bills that we are paying, and extra money is scarce. She refuses to split extras (medical copays, sports equipment, extra-curricular activities, etc) with us, and with her teenage son and college bound daughter, we need that CS. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

you really can't do much about the fact that you think she is not going to pay cs for the next 12 weeks.....until she is in arrears enoguh for the state to take it seriously then there isn't much to be done

 

[kpepperz]

She is taking 12 weeks off because she feels like it, not because the doctor ordered her to, this we know.

So, am I to understand that even though there is a court order to provide support, she is not legally required to pay it if there is no job to garnish it from? Tyoically, how much of an arrearage does there need to be in order for the state "to take it seriously enough"?

Can my husband file anything in court, on his own, to make the state aware of the situation?

 

[Silverplum]

She is taking 12 weeks off because she feels like it, not because the doctor ordered her to, this we know.

So, am I to understand that even though there is a court order to provide support, she is not legally required to pay it if there is no job to garnish it from? Tyoically, how much of an arrearage does there need to be in order for the state "to take it seriously enough"?

Can my husband file anything in court, on his own, to make the state aware of the situation?

IMHO, he should just let the arrearages pile up, then file contempt for nonpayment. If he tries to file something and state that she's having a baby and just "feels like" taking FMLA -- he's gonna sound like a jerk. Again, IMHO.

 

[moburkes]

She is taking 12 weeks off because she feels like it, not because the doctor ordered her to, this we know.

So, am I to understand that even though there is a court order to provide support, she is not legally required to pay it if there is no job to garnish it from? Tyoically, how much of an arrearage does there need to be in order for the state "to take it seriously enough"?

Can my husband file anything in court, on his own, to make the state aware of the situation?

Obviously, if there is a court order to provide support, then she is required to pay it. That's pretty simple. However, the suggestion that your husband WAIT, let it accumulate, and THEN file contempt, is a great one!

Yeah, and she is legally entitled to FMLA leave to care for herself and her newborn. Don't be a smarta&&! What she is not entitled to is to ignore a court order. Once it is reported, she will be dealt with.

 

[LdiJ]

She is taking 12 weeks off because she feels like it, not because the doctor ordered her to, this we know.

So, am I to understand that even though there is a court order to provide support, she is not legally required to pay it if there is no job to garnish it from? Tyoically, how much of an arrearage does there need to be in order for the state "to take it seriously enough"?

Can my husband file anything in court, on his own, to make the state aware of the situation?

She is still legally required to pay it. However, the garnishment actually guarantees that the payment gets made. Otherwise, you have to simply hope that she does it voluntarily. Odds are that she won't. Odds are that you wil have to take it back to court for contempt to get the money out of her.

 

[AHA]

She is taking 12 weeks off because she feels like it, not because the doctor ordered her to, this we know.

Oh, come on, if you had a baby and your employer allowed you to take 12 weeks off of work, you'd jump at the chance. Don't be stupid and think that any mom wouldn't.

 

[CJane]

Oh, come on, if you had a baby and your employer allowed you to take 12 weeks off of work, you'd jump at the chance. Don't be stupid and think that any mom wouldn't.

Any employer with enough employees to be bound by FMLA is required to allow someone to take 12 weeks off of work for the birth of a child. The leave is simply (usually) without pay... but your job is 'held' for you.

 

[Rushia]

Any employer with enough employees to be bound by FMLA is required to allow someone to take 12 weeks off of work for the birth of a child. The leave is simply (usually) without pay... but your job is 'held' for you.

Exactly, I could have taken 12 weeks without pay or 6/8 (after birth) weeks with pay(disabililty-NY considers a 38 weeks pregnancy disabled). I only took 6 weeks.