Ex spouse NOT complying with court order.

[LFulci]

I wonder if this one is an unusual situation but here goes.

Back in 2013 my Ex took me to court with the intent of increasing my child support payment and trying to get backpay for the previous years. Judge understood her gameplay and halved my child support, dismissed her claims for backpay, set the visitations schedule and fixed a few other items in the original document that was composed when I did not have any legal rep.

However the new court order stated I would 'overpay' by $350 a month to cover our child's daycare/medical costs and on the month after the quarter (so once three months had passed) she would reimburse me the difference by the 5TH Calendar day the following month. Once our child started school the difference increased by a lot, but then she would delay the payment of the difference every quarter. So the court order states she is to repay the difference no later than the 5TH day of the following month, so that would be every January, April, July and October but EVERY quarter she is late with poor excuses, ignores my messages be they text or email and I basically have to chase her up.

I did try to avoid this by signing up with a service where all our communications were viewed by an outside party but it cost for a membership and she would not pay the fee for the service insisting I pay for her account, but I was not going to do that as I could not trust her to use the service.

Obviously I cannot afford to work with my Attorney as this would cost way too much just to chase down the diffeernce every quarter. Also I no longer live in California as my wife's job relocated to Florida. My Ex verbally agreed to allow our son to visit me here in Florida 5 weeks during the summer and once every second Christmas but the past year has been difficult through no fault of anyone.

So my question is do I need to contact to ensure my Ex complies to the court order? I deally child service would debit the money from her the same way they do with me every month and she would have to provide evidence ( she does not provide receipts for costs, another thing I continually have to remind her of) of the costs for the previous months.

Anyone with advice or help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Zigner]

There's nobody who is going to make sure she complies with the letter of the order (for free). You will need to either continue your efforts, or hire legal counsel to do so on your behalf. If her noncompliance is egregious, then you may be able to convince the court to order her to pay your legal fees, but the fact is that she has been paying, albeit with some prodding on your behalf, so it is unlikely that she will be forced to pay your legal fees.

EDIT: Let me add this: You have nowhere to go with her not complying with a verbal agreement that is outside what the court ordered. You can, of course, ask the court to formalize those arrangements in an order, but you're likely going to need an attorney to help you with that...and she, most likely, won't be required to pay for those fees either. You can also ask the court to order communications through a third-party service.

 

[stealth2]

And how many days/weeks/months is she late in paying you?

 

[zddoodah]

So my question is do I need to contact to ensure my Ex complies to the court order?

Seems like there's a word missing from this sentence, but I'm not sure what word or where. That said, there isn't any way you can "ensure," in advance, that she will comply with the court's order.

I deally child service would debit the money from her the same way they do with me every month and she would have to provide evidence ( she does not provide receipts for costs, another thing I continually have to remind her of) of the costs for the previous months.

Anyone with advice

If you want to try and get something like this put into place, you can seek a modification of the existing order. However, if I were in your shoes, I would probably seek an order whereby you reimburse her for actual costs, as opposed to paying an amount in advance and waiting for reimbursement of the difference between your prepayment and actual costs. You'll have a difficult time doing this from the other side of the country without an attorney.

 

[stealth2]

So my question is <who> do I need to contact to ensure my Ex complies <with> the court order?

Seems like there's a word missing from this sentence, but I'm not sure what word or where.

Most likely...

 

[LFulci]

Sorry yes WHO should I contact to enforce the court order?

She may be 1 day late or in some cases three weeks late, but regardless, she is not 'giving' me money, she is returning my money that was overpaid to her for the previous three months.

Ideally yes, I should reimburse her for costs for the previous months once I receive the documentation to back those claims, but for some bizarre reason the court went with that plan.

Right now I'm frustrated she thinks she can reply to me when she feels like it and pays no mind to the court orders directions but I get the money deducted every pay period to her. I'd like to speak to child services but they are incredibly difficult to deal with.

Thanks.

 

[Zigner]

Sorry yes WHO should I contact to enforce the court order?

She may be 1 day late or in some cases three weeks late, but regardless, she is not 'giving' me money, she is returning my money that was overpaid to her for the previous three months.

Ideally yes, I should reimburse her for costs for the previous months once I receive the documentation to back those claims, but for some bizarre reason the court went with that plan.

Right now I'm frustrated she thinks she can reply to me when she feels like it and pays no mind to the court orders directions but I get the money deducted every pay period to her. I'd like to speak to child services but they are incredibly difficult to deal with.

Thanks.

Did you just skip over my post?
What do you mean by "child services"? There is no such thing (specifically) in CA.

 

[zddoodah]

Right now I'm frustrated she thinks she can reply to me when she feels like it and pays no mind to the court orders directions but I get the money deducted every pay period to her. I'd like to speak to child services but they are incredibly difficult to deal with.

Well...you're on the other side of the country, so it seems that she's right about this and is going to take advantage of it until you push back.

I'd like to speak to child services but they are incredibly difficult to deal with.

"Child services" is a generic term that typically refers to a state agency that investigates allegations of child abuse. That agency would not have anything to do with your situation.

 

[Zigner]

Well...you're on the other side of the country, so it seems that she's right about this and is going to take advantage of it until you push back.



"Child services" is a generic term that typically refers to a state agency that investigates allegations of child abuse. That agency would not have anything to do with your situation.

I *think* the OP meant Child Support Services, but I asked for clarification. In any case, Child Support Services (in this instance) is simply collecting based upon the court order. They will also have nothing to do with the changes that the OP is seeking.

 

[bcr229]

The more details you post the more it sounds like in the long run you'd be better off if you retained an attorney to get the child support order changed so you simply pay a flat rate each month and there's no back-and-forth with refunds, and to set up a long-distance visitation plan.

 

[AlmostThere]

I did try to avoid this by signing up with a service where all our communications were viewed by an outside party but it cost for a membership and she would not pay the fee for the service insisting I pay for her account, but I was not going to do that as I could not trust her to use the service.

At least one of those programs has a 30-day money-back guarantee and some have form of financial assistance for low-income parents. I would certainly try it during the money-back guarantee period and see if the other parent will use it.

Minimally, make sure ALL your communication with your ex is via email.