True story.
I divorced in 2010 and really didn't want to but that's life.
She didn't appose anything.
She signed the quit claim deed on the house and signed the Divorce papers drawn up by my attorney.
She agreed to a custody and child support packet.
Basically I got everything, she just wanted out of the 20 years of marriage.
I receive from my Veterans Disability a significant more amount than she does working and she hardly see's the kids.
For 5 and a half years now I have let her get away with not paying any child support but now she is coming into a huge sum do to an auto accident and she refuses to share any of it.
I am remarried now for the last two years
Any suggestions how I deal with this?
My attorney from 2010 said because I make more than her I would have to pay HER child support even though they live with me and she only keeps them for 2 weeks out of the entire year.
I would hate to drag her into court and find out I have to pay her something out of some fairness deal.
BTW, these are Florida rules we are playing with.
Any suggestions?
You have a current order through a court for her to pay you ?
If you do, file contempt of court for failure to pay child support in the family court nearest you. She will have to answer why she is not paying on the court order.
Go see another lawyer to check on FLA family court judges near you. Usually you can talk to a lawyer for free or $50 for an hour consultation.
If you do not have a court order now, you would have to reopen the case and go by the numbers. Look up FL child support calculators online and see what the numbers say when you input both your incomes. I do not agree with your old lawyer as children are NOT going to visitation every other weekend and you have children full time.
Another option may be bringing your court order to your local child support office and see if they can enforce the order you have without going to court. You may just have to file the court order with them , and then they collect for you. She needs to have a check coming from somewhere for them to garnish. If you go to court, you can ask the child support office to take over to collect for you if you wind up going to court over it.
Whether or not you make more money -- doesn't really play into it....use the FL calculator and check it out AND pull out your court order -- THAT's what the other parent owes.
Whether or not you are re-married also doesn't play into it.
Her "defense" is going to be the ability to pay -- and for the most part that ship sailed....and if she can't pay, she needed to have filed something with the court to ask for relief.
I agree to start with the child support collection offices and keep EXTREMELY detailed records of who you speak with and when....and be persistent.
And ... "Greetings"
You may want to ask for a reconsideration concerning your VA Disability compensation. The statue reads (in part) as follows :
"Payments of benefits due or to become due under any law administered by the Secretary shall not be assignable except to the extent specifically authorized by law, and such payments made to, or on account of, a beneficiary shall be exempt from taxation, shall be exempt from the claim of creditors, and shall not be liable to attachment, levy, or seizure by or under any legal or equitable process whatever, either before or after receipt by the beneficiary. "
The statue (since 1987) is clear that VA Disability payments are to be considered when the Disabled Veteran is the "payor". However, in the case at hand, it appears that a non-veteran payee MAY be using this compensation amount to lower the obligation to the children.
If this did happen, there is commentary that this could very well be an honest error among attorneys, judges, etc. (ie maintaining the status quo)
I think this is worth checking out.