Will TX honor a LA court order for child support/custody

[PomegranateRed]

I have a court order with my ex that originated in Louisiana in 2006. He moved away to TX about 4 years after the court order was in place. In addition to child support, it ordered him to pay half of extracurriculars, school supplies and 100% of medical bills. I offered to revise the order last year because the child support amount has not changed in 11 years and thought he may want to make other changes. He refused, and said he would just pay the extra support in cash and that we didn't need to change the order if we were both happy with it (fine with me). We have also now moved to TX (but not near him) and I want to submit our LA order to the courts here to be enforced because my ex is now saying he will not pay for 1/2 of the extracurriclars or school supplies and there is an outstanding medical bill that he says he will be paying but I have my doubts. He says he will file to stop paying for everything in the court order besides the basic child support. Since this court order has been standing for 11 years, does it have to be changed? Can I just submit it to the courts to have on file and then file contempt charges if he won't pay his share? It seems absurd he should suddenly not have to pay for these things when he agreed to them and was ordered to so long ago and did it all of these years (which I can prove). I know I can't do much about him not paying the difference in support that he was paying in cash without filing a motion to increase support, which I may do, but honestly I believe he is just pulling this crap because he spends so little time with our kids that they don't really care to see him and he keeps trying to convince them to go live with him and they refuse. My oldest actually wants to take a break from seeing him this summer because he doesn't care for his dad, has his first job and wants to hang out with his friends and go on the multiple vacations we have planned. He is not a great father, the situation at his house is uncomfortable for my kids (he's always fighting with his wife when they are there, telling the kids he will spend time with them then sleeps or plays video games instead of actually interacting with them, etc). He is also very upset that the kids have been telling their psychiatrists and therapists how unhappy they are with their relationship with him, and I guess he doesn't like people knowing he isn't winning a father of the year award any time soon and is embarrassed and he also doesn't believe the kids have psychiatric issues at all, but especially because of him (they do, and they are largely due to his lack of presence in their lives). I just want him to pay the child support amount we agreed on, half of what he agreed to 11 years ago, and any medical bills (which are few and far between because we both carry insurance on them). What do you think? Where do I even go to file our court order from LA? I've never lived in another state since the order was put into place.

 

[CTU]

I have a court order with my ex that originated in Louisiana in 2006. He moved away to TX about 4 years after the court order was in place. In addition to child support, it ordered him to pay half of extracurriculars, school supplies and 100% of medical bills. I offered to revise the order last year because the child support amount has not changed in 11 years and thought he may want to make other changes. He refused, and said he would just pay the extra support in cash and that we didn't need to change the order if we were both happy with it (fine with me). We have also now moved to TX (but not near him) and I want to submit our LA order to the courts here to be enforced because my ex is now saying he will not pay for 1/2 of the extracurriclars or school supplies and there is an outstanding medical bill that he says he will be paying but I have my doubts. He says he will file to stop paying for everything in the court order besides the basic child support. Since this court order has been standing for 11 years, does it have to be changed? Can I just submit it to the courts to have on file and then file contempt charges if he won't pay his share? It seems absurd he should suddenly not have to pay for these things when he agreed to them and was ordered to so long ago and did it all of these years (which I can prove). I know I can't do much about him not paying the difference in support that he was paying in cash without filing a motion to increase support, which I may do, but honestly I believe he is just pulling this crap because he spends so little time with our kids that they don't really care to see him and he keeps trying to convince them to go live with him and they refuse. My oldest actually wants to take a break from seeing him this summer because he doesn't care for his dad, has his first job and wants to hang out with his friends and go on the multiple vacations we have planned. He is not a great father, the situation at his house is uncomfortable for my kids (he's always fighting with his wife when they are there, telling the kids he will spend time with them then sleeps or plays video games instead of actually interacting with them, etc). He is also very upset that the kids have been telling their psychiatrists and therapists how unhappy they are with their relationship with him, and I guess he doesn't like people knowing he isn't winning a father of the year award any time soon and is embarrassed and he also doesn't believe the kids have psychiatric issues at all, but especially because of him (they do, and they are largely due to his lack of presence in their lives). I just want him to pay the child support amount we agreed on, half of what he agreed to 11 years ago, and any medical bills (which are few and far between because we both carry insurance on them). What do you think? Where do I even go to file our court order from LA? I've never lived in another state since the order was put into place.

I believe your motivation is crystal clear, and I believe you should pay for a consultation with a local attorney.

 

[torimac]

If the motivation is to get child support, I personally see nothing wrong with that.

I have been dealing with TX child support division for 7 years now. In my experience, they are not very good at supporting out of state orders, but most of that is because they do not have the legal right. As you have both moved away from LA, you should get a TX order. It is very difficult to support an order when neither party lives in that state. TX does not file for contempt for out of state orders, according to the many conversations I have had with them. The other state would need to do that. As neither of you live there anymore, that's not going to happen.

After 11 years, you really should review the order. Incomes change and so should the order. In TX, the NCP pays a percentage of their income for child support. For one child it is 20% of the net income, 25% for two. Extras like sports and music lessons are not factored in, that comes out of the child support. Medical support may be ordered in addition to child support. Most common is for the NCP to carry the insurance if it is available at a reasonable rate (less than 9% of their gross income) and all the bills to be split by the parents.

That being said, parents can agree to something different than the guidelines so long as both child support and medical support are addressed. But the bottom line: LA cannot enforce an order when neither the parents nor the children live in that state. So, if he does not pay, you will need to get a TX order. I have had many conversations regarding this with OAG-CS people as I and the child live in TX and the other parent does not.