TexasMomToSix
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
My husband has custody of his two children and his ex-wife was ordered to pay support of $350/mo. back in 2001. His case is being handled by the Attorney General's Office in Dallas. The ex is currently about $30,000 in arrears, which included unpaid child support and unpaid medical support. It's been a real battle over the years -- her disappearing, not letting the AG's office (or us) know where she was living, quitting jobs, working under the table, avoiding being served legal papers, etc. We FINALLY got a court date back in August, at which time we were told that a hearing date would be set for Jan. 14th 2009. The Judge ordered her to make her payments from then until the court date, and to come with 10% of what the arrearage is on January 14th or she would be facing up to 180 days in jail and a fine. Of course, we have not received any payments at all.
Today we received an "Answer to Motion for Enforcement" from the public defender's office. A lot of what is in there doesn't make any sense, and most of it is simply NOT TRUE!
For example, it states that she object to the assignment of this case to a judge;
that she denies the allegations of the Motion for Enforcement;
that the order is incapable of being enforced because it is ambiguous and that she does not know what her duties/obligations are;
that she has had insufficient notice of the hearing;
that the Court does not have jurisdiction because the Enforcement was filed after the obligation had been terminated (?? both children are still minors);
that she lacks and has lacked the ability to provide the support and is involuntarily unemployed;
that my husband voluntarily relinquished possession of the children in excess of ordered visitation and she is therefore entitle to an off-set -- she hasn't even SEEN the children in almost 5 years!
that some amounts were paid by her to my husband (NOT TRUE)
and that she objects to the Request for Production of Documents because she has a right to not give evidence which can be used against her...???
So we're both pretty confused and don't really understand what this means or what we should do next. Is it time for us to "bite the bullet" and hire an attorney? It seems as though the Attorney General's Office is just so backlogged on these cases. The ex has never been penalized in any way for non-support (and as you all know, at $350/mo it takes a LOT of NOT paying to get to be $30,000 behind!), and a lot of people have told us we will get more done if we hired a private attorney.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
My husband has custody of his two children and his ex-wife was ordered to pay support of $350/mo. back in 2001. His case is being handled by the Attorney General's Office in Dallas. The ex is currently about $30,000 in arrears, which included unpaid child support and unpaid medical support. It's been a real battle over the years -- her disappearing, not letting the AG's office (or us) know where she was living, quitting jobs, working under the table, avoiding being served legal papers, etc. We FINALLY got a court date back in August, at which time we were told that a hearing date would be set for Jan. 14th 2009. The Judge ordered her to make her payments from then until the court date, and to come with 10% of what the arrearage is on January 14th or she would be facing up to 180 days in jail and a fine. Of course, we have not received any payments at all.
Today we received an "Answer to Motion for Enforcement" from the public defender's office. A lot of what is in there doesn't make any sense, and most of it is simply NOT TRUE!
For example, it states that she object to the assignment of this case to a judge;
that she denies the allegations of the Motion for Enforcement;
that the order is incapable of being enforced because it is ambiguous and that she does not know what her duties/obligations are;
that she has had insufficient notice of the hearing;
that the Court does not have jurisdiction because the Enforcement was filed after the obligation had been terminated (?? both children are still minors);
that she lacks and has lacked the ability to provide the support and is involuntarily unemployed;
that my husband voluntarily relinquished possession of the children in excess of ordered visitation and she is therefore entitle to an off-set -- she hasn't even SEEN the children in almost 5 years!
that some amounts were paid by her to my husband (NOT TRUE)
and that she objects to the Request for Production of Documents because she has a right to not give evidence which can be used against her...???
So we're both pretty confused and don't really understand what this means or what we should do next. Is it time for us to "bite the bullet" and hire an attorney? It seems as though the Attorney General's Office is just so backlogged on these cases. The ex has never been penalized in any way for non-support (and as you all know, at $350/mo it takes a LOT of NOT paying to get to be $30,000 behind!), and a lot of people have told us we will get more done if we hired a private attorney.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?