Court Jurisdiction over CS

[southernfury01]

Heres the story.

I was married and divorced in Shelby County, IN. I have 2 children for whom i was paying support to thru Shelby Co.

My ex moved to Grant County, IN. While she was living in that county, 1 of the children (my son) was taken away from her and made a ward of the state in Grant Co as a chins case.

we were ordered to pay support to Grant Co to reimburse them for care of that child.

I was still paying support for the other child thru Shelby Co.

When the child was finally returned to her custody, support to her for that child was put back into force in Shelby Co.

now to my question.

The last time we went to court in Shelby County Superior court, she told the court that i owed arrearage to grant county for the time my son was in their custody.
The judge ordered that i had to pay "her" that amout back instead of paying it back to Grant County.


1. Does Shelby Superior Court have the athority and jurisdiction to award money to her that is owed to another county?


2. If not, how might i correct this error?


thanks
Paul

[notnew]

My first question when reading this post was "If she lost custody of the son and he became a ward of the state, where were you in all of this"?

Why didn't you try to gain custody of your son?

If the two of you paid support to Grant County for the son, then the support order was current. She should not be able to be paid CS when she doesn't have custody of the child.

I am not a lawyer. You only have a specific amount of time to appeal a ruling or file an objection. You may have lost your opportunity to have your side heard. Why didn't you speak up during the hearing?

If your support payments are going through CSE - I'd contact that office with your query.

It you can afford an attorney to do this for you, I'd advise you do that.

Also, if she lost custody of one, what were the conditions for the other child? I cannot believe this is happening with your children and the only concern you have is CS issues.

Unreal.

[MixedBag]

I hope you have orders to show all of this signed from a judge.

Were you really ever behind according to what you knew to pay?

and again, what notnew said....

[southernfury01]

Ok. since you seem to be so combative, let me spell this out for you.

1. I have fought for my kids for the last 15yrs to no avail. In the state of indiana, unless you are blatantly abusing the children (which was not the case) the courts will always award custody to the mother. My children were 13 & 16 at the time.
2. She had my son removed from her home after she made repeated calls to the police and had him arrested. (for things like: throwing a sock at her (arrested for battery, placed on probation), hitting his sister with a rolled up newspaper (arrested for battery, probation violation), slamming a door (destruction of private property) and so on.

3. After realizing the severity of what she had done. Instead of taking the responsibility for her actions, she went for the sympathy vote and begun telling everyone in the system that i had been and abusive husband and father (even though there was never one shred of proof ) she used in her statement when asked how i was abusive she stated " he pushed me out of the way once and told me to shut up".

3. After 3yrs of fighting i finally had the juvenile prosecutor convinced on my side of the story and begun the process of getting custody. Next thing i know, that prosecutor up and quits, and a new one took his place, who was sympathetic to her.

4. As to where the other child was. My daughter stayed with her mother this whole time and stuck by her, even though she would call me crying and say that her mom called her a fat pig and that she was worthless. She chose to back her mom because her mom promised her a car.

5. There was alot of confusion in the court system and no one seemed to know what was going on about support. I admit that i may owe the county 700.00 and am willing to pay it to them upon proof. But i do not owe her any since he was not in her custody. her support has always been current. she even had to reimburse me 1200.00 that i had overpaid her.

6. I did speak up in the last hearing and explained to the judge that he could not award it to her since she did not have custody. But her attorney and the judge spoke behind closed doors and poof, it shows up in the order. (The new hearing will be under a different judge in a different courtroom).

7. And last but not least...The money is not ALL I'm worried about, but my children are 18 & 21 now and they chose the side that gives them the most freedom. I accept that but will not bow down and pay what is not due.
Not that i have to justify myself to anyone....All i was asking for was a simple clarification....i have since spoke to a colleague who is an attorney and found that they do not have the authority to award it to her



So

Thanks for the criticism...and very little else. Nice to know that someone will always judge you first.

[notnew]

Not combative. You did not say your children were victims of PAS or that you had unsuccessfully tried for custody.

With the battle you've been through, you have to know how pissed off it makes you when other NCP's behave like jerks and don't appreciate or take advantadge of the opportunities they'd love to get their hands on.

How could a juvenile prosecuter helped you to get custody? I am not convinced that would have ever worked.

I did give you a clarification along with my questions about you not trying for custody at that time.

Her attorney and the judge meeting behind closed doors without you (if you were representing yourself) or your attorney is a big no no. There is an ethics violation here somewhere and certainly a violation of procedure.

I also don't see why this is an issue when it happened 5 years ago. I think your time to make an issue out of this is long over. I believe it would cost you more to right this situation then to just pay it so it will go away.

And I am in the same boat. Hostile mother awarded custody. I have challenged custody with very good reason and the court won't budge. I have seen my child for one weekend out of the last 9 months and talked to her a handful of times. I am no longer involved in medical/school issues because mother has pushed me out and I have no legal ground to try to make any changes or difference. Mother will not communicate with me at all. The day my child enters the system as a ward of the state will be the day I can finally step in and hopefully take custody. In the meantime, I have to wait and watch. Painful for me.

I still feel that no matter what the reason your son was in state custody, you should have tried to get him. With what you've presented, she must have requested they remove him. You may not have gotten custody, but in my opinion, it was the best shot you were ever going to get at it so you should have taken it. However, I live in my shoes and you in yours. We are all entitled to our opinions and this is the place where you come to for the opinions of others.


For what it's worth, I do think you got screwed with the Judge's decision. I just think you've waited too long to do anything about it.