Overpaid support payments returned. Why?

[NYCurious]

What is the name of your state? New York

My husband has been paying child support for close to 18 years. The payments are automatically deducted from his pay check each week. On occasion, double deductions occurred due to vacation pay, etc. The over paid funds accumulated over the years and were held in his account.

In December he received a letter from the CS agency thanking him for always making his cs payments. This was extremely unusual as he had never received a letter like this from them, ever in the 18 years he has been paying.

Even more surprising is; last week he received a check for over $600 from the CS agency. For some unknown reason, they returned, in full, all of the over paid funds that were in his account! We can see no reason as to why they would do such a thing since he still has another 3 years remaining to pay child support.

Based on negative experiences with the CS agency in the past, he refuses to contact them for any reason. He mentioned the letter and check situation to several people and they in turn asked if perhaps his ex-wife submitted papers to terminate the child support order early. That makes no sense to us since he is obligated to pay for another 3 years until the child turns 21 as stated in his divorce/support papers.

My question is: has this ever happened to anyone else? Has anyone else received a thank you letter?! Has anyone else received their money back without requesting it? Is it normal policy or procedure for the CS agency to voluntarily return over paid funds after so many years? Is this something new, that they no longer hold onto over paid funds? If not, then why would they? Can his ex-wife have the support order terminated? And if so, what reasons would she have to give to justify terminating the support order? Their daughter will turn 18 in a couple of weeks, so we’re wondering if that has something to do with it.

If anyone can shed some light on this, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

What is the name of your state? New YorkWhat is the name of your state?

 

[Zigner]

Maybe they are required to maintain overpaid funds in a separate interest bearing account...so instead of doing that, it's easier to return the overpaid amounts.
I don't see the reason to get worried about this situation...
I also can't think of ANY reason not to call and ask about this.

 

[BL]

What is the name of your state? New York

My husband has been paying child support for close to 18 years. The payments are automatically deducted from his pay check each week. On occasion, double deductions occurred due to vacation pay, etc. The over paid funds accumulated over the years and were held in his account.

In December he received a letter from the CS agency thanking him for always making his cs payments. This was extremely unusual as he had never received a letter like this from them, ever in the 18 years he has been paying.

Even more surprising is; last week he received a check for over $600 from the CS agency. For some unknown reason, they returned, in full, all of the over paid funds that were in his account! We can see no reason as to why they would do such a thing since he still has another 3 years remaining to pay child support.

Based on negative experiences with the CS agency in the past, he refuses to contact them for any reason. He mentioned the letter and check situation to several people and they in turn asked if perhaps his ex-wife submitted papers to terminate the child support order early. That makes no sense to us since he is obligated to pay for another 3 years until the child turns 21 as stated in his divorce/support papers.
My question is: has this ever happened to anyone else? Has anyone else received a thank you letter?! Has anyone else received their money back without requesting it? Is it normal policy or procedure for the CS agency to voluntarily return over paid funds after so many years? Is this something new, that they no longer hold onto over paid funds? If not, then why would they? Can his ex-wife have the support order terminated? And if so, what reasons would she have to give to justify terminating the support order? Their daughter will turn 18 in a couple of weeks, so we’re wondering if that has something to do with it.

If anyone can shed some light on this, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

What is the name of your state? New YorkWhat is the name of your state?

Has CS been deducted from his pay each week since the child turned 18 ?

Does the Decree/support order state anything about until 21 , or ?

 

[CourtClerk]

If NY works anything like CA, then it's possible that your husband's account underwent a random audit and that's when they discovered the overpayment. Instead of holding it and applying it, they returned it because keeping it and applying it would eventually mess with the current system in place since what they would have to do is stop the automatic payments they are receiving and then start them up again when the overpayment was used up (too much trouble... and somethings bound to go wrong).

They'll continue getting their payments they way they have been, and he gets the money that they accidentally took in error. Works out for everyone.

 

[BL]

If NY works anything like CA, then it's possible that your husband's account underwent a random audit and that's when they discovered the overpayment. Instead of holding it and applying it, they returned it because keeping it and applying it would eventually mess with the current system in place since what they would have to do is stop the automatic payments they are receiving and then start them up again when the overpayment was used up (too much trouble... and somethings bound to go wrong).

They'll continue getting their payments they way they have been, and he gets the money that they accidentally took in error. Works out for everyone.

I think you hit it there CourtClerk .

I didn't even think of it .

NY has a central billing in Albany , and it's pretty well automated .

 

[CourtClerk]

I think you hit it there CourtClerk .

I didn't even think of it .

NY has a central billing in Albany , and it's pretty well automated .

Yeah, I figured that's probably what went on. It's a more complicated system than people would guess. CA has finally decided that ALL CS orders need to go through SDU and when they did, all h*ll broke loose because as with all new systems... things went wrong.

 

[NYCurious]

Zigner: Thank you for the “interest bearing account” suggestion. That is quite possible. As long as you do not believe it is something to be worried about, that helps a great deal, thank you.

As for why he hasn’t called to ask about this, here’s why…..

2 years ago, the CS agency sent him a notice stating he was in arrears for several hundred dollars and so the weekly deduction from his pay check would be greatly increased until the arrears are paid off.

Problem is; he never WAS in arrears. He went to their office in Manhattan, armed with every single pay stub during a 6 month span. Each pay stub showed the cs payment deduction. The agency representative then printed out a report of his account which ALSO showed that a cs payment was received every single week. Not to mention the extra funds already sitting in his account. He had clear, undeniable proof he was right and they were wrong. However, despite my husband’s pay stubs and the CS agency’s own records showing he never once missed a single payment, they refused to cancel the arrears order. They told him they couldn’t help him, there was nothing they could do and that once he pays the arrears off in full, he can submit a letter and try to get his money back. Which he did. But how they could force him to pay for their mistake and then suggest he write a letter and “try” to get his money back, is unbelievable.

And that is only one example of why he refuses to contact them. Even when they admit they’re wrong, they still won’t help you.

Needless to say, that’s why when he received the check we became alarmed because we didn’t know how to take it. And based on past experience, he’s afraid if he contacts them, they’ll probably turn around and say he’s in arrears again or something. Who knows with them.

BL: The child has not yet turned 18. She will be 18 in a couple of weeks. As of this moment, support payments continue to be deduced from his pay check.

As for the age, we looked at the divorce/support order when he received the check. It states he is to pay cs until the child reaches the age of 21.

CourtClerk: Thank you for your suggestion. We never would have thought of that. That makes sense actually! I just wanted to see if there was a cause for alarm since this goes against everything he and I know regarding the CS agency. As long as it appears to possibly be the result of a system or audit situation, and not a sign of something terrible coming down the pike, or another gross error made by the CS agency, that makes me feel a great deal better.

Thank you everyone.