What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
I posted a while ago that my ex husband is taking me back to court to have his child support lowered.
This is a man who is more than $3000 behind in child support. (I KNOW thats not a lot compared to a lot of other people who are behind.)
When he first came to me I felt threatened and bullied into signing the first paper saying he could get it lowered. When he confronted me outside a movie theater a few weeks later with more paperwork I decided to get on the phone with the court house and find out if I HAD to sign this paperwork. I was told I absolutely did not and should not sign it. To wait until it is officially served instead of letting him hand deliver it himself.
When he found out I wasnt going to sign he had a fit and told me he didnt have a problem paying for a lawyer and was taking me to court.
Now, keep in mind the 3 thousand dollars he is behind in child support. Plus half a credit card bill he was ordered to pay that he never paid a dime on. But yet..he has the money to get a lawyer??
So I told him to take me to court.
I really dont care if a judge lowers it. But I have decided I am no longer going to let my ex off the hook for every little thing. I am not going to make this easy for him. I have been doing that since we got divorced to try and keep the peace and make things as stress free as possible for me and our son. The day he showed up at the movie theater our son was there. He treated our son like a stranger. Like he didnt know him! When he walked away our son stood there fighting back tears. That was the day I decided I wasnt going to let him have the easy way out. He hadnt taken his court appointed weekends with our son in about three months prior to all this. He was working, was too busy, was going out of town, was sick. As soon as I told him he could take me to court he decided he would start getting him again. Only he doesnt see him...the girlfriend watches him.
Since then there was a big blow up when I decided I was
A.) No longer going to drive our son to and from his city for his weekends. I started doing this as a favor the first summer we were divorced because I thought it was only going to be for a few weeks. Then he started expecting me to do it and I was too scared to say no. Its supposed to be half way. Its not. I didnt know this until recently but its almost right where they live. And its a long hot drive for me and our son in a car with no air conditioner...not to mention the expense of gas. Plus, there is no court order demanding that I do this as when we got divorced he lied and said he was still living in this city at his grandparent's house and it was only a few minutes from where I lived.
B.) I also decided I was no longer going to communicate with the girlfriend. They both try to bully me and I am not going to take it anymore. She is not the parent and there is no reason why he can not communicate directly with me concerning our son.
C.) I refuse to communicate with him about anything not pertaining to our child. And I only speak directly to him when I have to. I usually use text message or voice mail so that way I have a record of the aggressiveness of their communication with me.
So...to make a long story even longer: Today the papers from his lawyer came in the mail. I thought the paperwork had been filed awhile ago because when I tried to file with the department that would go after him for the back child support (sorry...cant remember right now what that is) I was told that I couldnt because there was already a case pending against me. This was more than a month ago. But the paperwork from his lawyer was filed on July 23rd.
Imagine my shock when I read that not only does he want the child support lowered to less than half of what he is paying (that wasnt the shock) but that he also wants it court ordered that I meet him half way (he moved almost as soon as we seperated but refused to change his address because his girlfriend didnt want me to know it. So for two years he went off to his dad's and I had no clue where he was. I just got the address about a year ago when their relationship was rocky and he gave in and gave it to me.) to where HE CHOSE TO MOVE TO. We still live in the same place we did when he threw us out of his grandparent's house. This is also not a shock because the day of the big blow up he told me he was going to see what he could do to change the fact that I dont have a court order ordering me to drive all the way there.
The BIG SHOCK is....he and his attorney want ME to pay his court and attorney fees!!!!!!!!
Will a judge actually order me to do that?! When HE is the one who filed, HE is the one with a lawyer (I dont have one but for some reason he thinks I do), HE is the one wanting his child support lowered and HE is the one $3000 plus behind on his child support???
I am having heart failure over this!!! I KNOW he wouldnt have taken this kind of gamble if he didnt think there was a 110% chance that a judge would give it to him since he supposedly doesnt have any money. Thus wanting to lower his child support.
He didnt work for about 3 months. Then he got a less than part time job that pays about 9 dollars an hour and he refuses to look for anything else or get a second job. I have worked 2 and 3 jobs since we seperated to pay my bills and support our son. I worked hard and was promoted from overnight shift to assistant supervisor to supervisor. I cant believe this man is doing this.
One more question. Will this go to mediation before court or will it go straight to a judge? My ex got the same lawyer he had when we got divorced (I also did not have a lawyer then either but we settled everything in mediation.) and this man is the biggest BLEEP I have ever met! Seriously!! He actually accused me of trying to keep our son from his father because I simply wanted to change his weekend to the opposite weekend. And everytime the mediator would leave my room to go do something, he would come in it and try to bully me into doing whatever they wanted me to do. He is a HUGE man and I hoped I never had to see him again!!
I wasnt worried about all this until I saw he had retained the same laywer...and that he wants me to foot the bill for it.
I posted a while ago that my ex husband is taking me back to court to have his child support lowered.
This is a man who is more than $3000 behind in child support. (I KNOW thats not a lot compared to a lot of other people who are behind.)
When he first came to me I felt threatened and bullied into signing the first paper saying he could get it lowered. When he confronted me outside a movie theater a few weeks later with more paperwork I decided to get on the phone with the court house and find out if I HAD to sign this paperwork. I was told I absolutely did not and should not sign it. To wait until it is officially served instead of letting him hand deliver it himself.
When he found out I wasnt going to sign he had a fit and told me he didnt have a problem paying for a lawyer and was taking me to court.
Now, keep in mind the 3 thousand dollars he is behind in child support. Plus half a credit card bill he was ordered to pay that he never paid a dime on. But yet..he has the money to get a lawyer??
So I told him to take me to court.
I really dont care if a judge lowers it. But I have decided I am no longer going to let my ex off the hook for every little thing. I am not going to make this easy for him. I have been doing that since we got divorced to try and keep the peace and make things as stress free as possible for me and our son. The day he showed up at the movie theater our son was there. He treated our son like a stranger. Like he didnt know him! When he walked away our son stood there fighting back tears. That was the day I decided I wasnt going to let him have the easy way out. He hadnt taken his court appointed weekends with our son in about three months prior to all this. He was working, was too busy, was going out of town, was sick. As soon as I told him he could take me to court he decided he would start getting him again. Only he doesnt see him...the girlfriend watches him.
Since then there was a big blow up when I decided I was
A.) No longer going to drive our son to and from his city for his weekends. I started doing this as a favor the first summer we were divorced because I thought it was only going to be for a few weeks. Then he started expecting me to do it and I was too scared to say no. Its supposed to be half way. Its not. I didnt know this until recently but its almost right where they live. And its a long hot drive for me and our son in a car with no air conditioner...not to mention the expense of gas. Plus, there is no court order demanding that I do this as when we got divorced he lied and said he was still living in this city at his grandparent's house and it was only a few minutes from where I lived.
B.) I also decided I was no longer going to communicate with the girlfriend. They both try to bully me and I am not going to take it anymore. She is not the parent and there is no reason why he can not communicate directly with me concerning our son.
C.) I refuse to communicate with him about anything not pertaining to our child. And I only speak directly to him when I have to. I usually use text message or voice mail so that way I have a record of the aggressiveness of their communication with me.
So...to make a long story even longer: Today the papers from his lawyer came in the mail. I thought the paperwork had been filed awhile ago because when I tried to file with the department that would go after him for the back child support (sorry...cant remember right now what that is) I was told that I couldnt because there was already a case pending against me. This was more than a month ago. But the paperwork from his lawyer was filed on July 23rd.
Imagine my shock when I read that not only does he want the child support lowered to less than half of what he is paying (that wasnt the shock) but that he also wants it court ordered that I meet him half way (he moved almost as soon as we seperated but refused to change his address because his girlfriend didnt want me to know it. So for two years he went off to his dad's and I had no clue where he was. I just got the address about a year ago when their relationship was rocky and he gave in and gave it to me.) to where HE CHOSE TO MOVE TO. We still live in the same place we did when he threw us out of his grandparent's house. This is also not a shock because the day of the big blow up he told me he was going to see what he could do to change the fact that I dont have a court order ordering me to drive all the way there.
The BIG SHOCK is....he and his attorney want ME to pay his court and attorney fees!!!!!!!!
Will a judge actually order me to do that?! When HE is the one who filed, HE is the one with a lawyer (I dont have one but for some reason he thinks I do), HE is the one wanting his child support lowered and HE is the one $3000 plus behind on his child support???
I am having heart failure over this!!! I KNOW he wouldnt have taken this kind of gamble if he didnt think there was a 110% chance that a judge would give it to him since he supposedly doesnt have any money. Thus wanting to lower his child support.
He didnt work for about 3 months. Then he got a less than part time job that pays about 9 dollars an hour and he refuses to look for anything else or get a second job. I have worked 2 and 3 jobs since we seperated to pay my bills and support our son. I worked hard and was promoted from overnight shift to assistant supervisor to supervisor. I cant believe this man is doing this.
One more question. Will this go to mediation before court or will it go straight to a judge? My ex got the same lawyer he had when we got divorced (I also did not have a lawyer then either but we settled everything in mediation.) and this man is the biggest BLEEP I have ever met! Seriously!! He actually accused me of trying to keep our son from his father because I simply wanted to change his weekend to the opposite weekend. And everytime the mediator would leave my room to go do something, he would come in it and try to bully me into doing whatever they wanted me to do. He is a HUGE man and I hoped I never had to see him again!!
I wasnt worried about all this until I saw he had retained the same laywer...and that he wants me to foot the bill for it.