Who gets paid first?

[StepmomsAreBest]

What is the name of your state?Ohio

My husband owes back due child support to the state of Washington from when his ex wife was on public aid. He also owes current support through the state of Illinois where they were divorced. The problem my husband is having is everytime he mails a payment through the state disbursement unit, it gets sent to the back due in Washington and does not go to his children for current. And it doesn't matter which state disbursement unit he sends it through (Ohio, which is where we live, or Illinois, which is where the order originated) it still ends up going to Washington. My husband had called Ohio CSEA and spoke to his case worker about this. She said she would fix it so the support goes to his ex in South Carolina instead of to back due in Washington. Well apparently she wasn't able to fix it as the support still is not reaching his girls. Is this something that can't be fixed? Since the money is owed to the STATE of Washington, does that get paid off FIRST, and then the payments start going to his ex for current? This is getting very discouraging and no one knows what to do anymore. We would really like for the girls to be getting the money they deserve. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state?Ohio

My husband owes back due child support to the state of Washington from when his ex wife was on public aid. He also owes current support through the state of Illinois where they were divorced. The problem my husband is having is everytime he mails a payment through the state disbursement unit, it gets sent to the back due in Washington and does not go to his children for current. And it doesn't matter which state disbursement unit he sends it through (Ohio, which is where we live, or Illinois, which is where the order originated) it still ends up going to Washington. My husband had called Ohio CSEA and spoke to his case worker about this. She said she would fix it so the support goes to his ex in South Carolina instead of to back due in Washington. Well apparently she wasn't able to fix it as the support still is not reaching his girls. Is this something that can't be fixed? Since the money is owed to the STATE of Washington, does that get paid off FIRST, and then the payments start going to his ex for current? This is getting very discouraging and no one knows what to do anymore. We would really like for the girls to be getting the money they deserve. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well...that certainly doesn't make sense....monies credited virtually always go towards current support first and arrearages last. Its probably time to consult an attorney.

 

[StepmomsAreBest]

Well...that certainly doesn't make sense....monies credited virtually always go towards current support first and arrearages last. Its probably time to consult an attorney.

We didn't think it made sense either. Especially since my husband had talked to his case worker and she assured him she would have it straightened out to where the money would go to his ex in South Carolina. This is so frustrating. My husband and his ex have had nothing but headaches with this whole situation. What can an attorney do that the CSEA office can't?

 

[LdiJ]

We didn't think it made sense either. Especially since my husband had talked to his case worker and she assured him she would have it straightened out to where the money would go to his ex in South Carolina. This is so frustrating. My husband and his ex have had nothing but headaches with this whole situation. What can an attorney do that the CSEA office can't?

This is just a guess...but its my opinion that mom left Washington State without properly closing out her welfare case there....or if she did, then somehow the info got lost in the cracks somewhere. In that scenario the Washington CSE could believe that WA is still providing welfare to mom, which could explain why current support isn't going to mom. Heck, now that benefits are provided on debit cards its even possible that WA is still crediting mom's debit card every month even though mom obviously isn't using (can't use) the card.

Of course, WA wants to be reimbursed so they have no motivation to straighten out the case.

The advantage of an attorney is that the attorney may be able to force all the state's involved to get on the same page....or if not, to get it in front of a judge so that they are ordered to get on the same page.

 

[StepmomsAreBest]

Thank you for the quick replies. I guess his ex is gonna have to call around and get some of these cases closed out so we are just working through one state. Next step would have to be to call an attorney. What a mess! Thanks again for your help