Messages

Hello everyone.  

FYI - Father with 30% time, live in CA.  

In mid-April of 2005, my ex and I had a new CS agreement at court (and child custody agreement).  The new CS dropped from $262 every two weeks to $195 and was affective May 1, 2005.  

My ex's lawyer sent me the final court work to sign towards the end of April.  When I looked over the papers, I found numerous errors that directly contradicted the court order we agreed upon ini court.  I sent the papers back with a letter explaining the errors.  Her lawyer sent a response 2 months later at the end of June.  The errors were fixed and I sent the court papers back, signed, within 2 days.  Her lawyer then filed the papers in mid-to-late August, 2005.  Then, she finally sent in the wage garnishment adjustment in mid September, 2005.  So, from May 1 to September 19, my wages were being garnished at $262 when they should have been $195.  

I had contacted her and her lawyer multiple times regarding the need for the change and got confirmation from both (verbal with a witness) that the overpaid CS would be reimbursed.  Currently, she owes me about $655 in overpayment.

Last week, we were in court again for an updated CS agreement and now she is refusing the pay back the funds.  The CS has been lowered to $196 a month in lieu of $195 every 2 weeks and the wage garnishment has been removed.

What are my options to get the money back?

A)  Do I NOT pay the current $195 a month since I am "paid-up"...until the $655 overpayment is settled?

B)  Do I just pay the current CS and forget the overpayment?

C)  Do I take her to small claims court to try and get the $655 back?  I have heard that small claims may not make her pay the money back.

I am inclined to do "A" since I have overpaid CS but I do not want to mess anything up.  Normally I would pay for the well being of my child, however, my wife and I provide for my child more than my ex does so I know my child will still be taken care if.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

I live in CA and I know that in my county you can search what's called the "court case information system" online.  If you know what county her license is suspended in then you can do a search for your county's online information system and just search her name to see if she does indeed have a suspended license.  Hope this helps.

Answers:

1. We live approx. 45 miles apart

2. Right now there is 70/30 custody with my ex having 70.  At the beginning of our divorce my ex accussed me of being a sex addict and also accussed me of having "anger issues".  I had a bad lawyer and ended up with no over nights until there was a 730 evaluation and then regular visitation became 70/30 with a note in the evaluation that I should be given more custody time after about 6 months.  It is long past 6 months and I know that I should have filed for that about 6 months ago.

3. We both have legal custody although my ex repeatedly does whatever she wants.  About 1 1/2 years ago she moved and enrolled my daughter in a different school and wrote down her boyfriend at the time as her future father and told the school that I had no legal rights.  I had to go to the school with CO, put myself on the emergency info, etc... The boyfriend that my ex has now is a different guy and I saw the twin bed in the living room with the sheet hanging from the ceiling to conceal it myself from the door of the apartment myself last time I dropped my daughter off.

4. The school concerns have been raised and addressed.  Since my daughter has been tested and found to not have any learning disabilities, and has tested out of special ed help the school has pointed the finger at my ex and now my ex is changing my daughter's school.  No, she did not consult me, she told me.

5. Since the school called me about the lunch problem and informed me at that particular time that they could not reach my ex I can only guess that it has been noted.  I am not sure though.

6. I am in an extremely stable environment.  My daughter has her own room at my home, she has a step brother here and a new brother on the way.

7. The child is 8.


Today we went to pick up my daughter and she ofcourse was not there.  I called the police and they had me go to the station and pick up court violation paperwork to file.  I will do so in the next couple of days.  

All of my daughters educational issues are well documented.  She has been under an IEP for the last three years.  This last week there was a meeting and neither my ex wife or the school informed me. Last week when I picked my daughter up for visitation the teacher informed me about the meeting and also told me that my ex didn't go.  I'm going in to speak with the psycologist this upcoming week.  

I am a father with 30% custody. For the last 2 years my daughter has been failing school in her mothers care. My ex will not communicate with me. She will not even give me her home phone number. Within the last six months I have had to call the police due to her hacking my private information on my website, my daughter has complained that she isn't fed in the morning before school, I've gotten calls from the school that she hasn't been provided with lunch, and now my ex has moved her new boyfriend into her one bedroom apartment and my ex and the new boyfriend are sleeping in the living room where my daughter can walk in on them at any time. My ex has put a bed in the living room and hung a black sheet around it from the ceiling.  My ex also took my daughter out of state during Springbreak and did not follow the itinerary as per CO. In that instant I had to call the police to get a hold of her because no one knew where they were. She had called in sick to work and kept my daughter out of school so they could stop in another state on the way home and go snowboarding. I called the police because she would not return my calls and I was concerned about my daughters safety. Since then she has kept my daughter out of school because she was running late and instead had taken my daughter to work for the day. Just today my ex informed me that she would not being following the CO for Father's Day and now I have to go down there and get help from the local police to see my daughter on Father's Day.  Even then I'm sure she will try her best to not be home.  I want to seek physical custody of my daughter. Being with her mother is no longer in her best interest. Do I stand a chance?