Statute of limitations for violation of a court order

[72264kids]

State of Residence is Virginia, but jurisdiction is in Florida.

Final Dissolution was signed by a judge on 7/1/2002.

I would like to sue my ex for contempt of a court order as follows:

1) Court order stated that I was to be held financially irresponsible for the CP's vehicle. CP got vehicle repossesed, and the entry has populated my credit report as a derogatory item. (The creditor does not care about the final judgement as legally permissable). I am trying everything and anything to satisfy child support arrears at this point.

2) CP signed an affidavit indicating that prior to the final judgement, I did not pay child support directly to CP. (I have checks to prove otherwise and would like to reduce child support arrears based on that).

My questions are as follows:

1) Is there a Statute of Limitations to come after the ex for these two items? If so, where could I find that information?

2) Am I likely to obtain a monetary gain from this lawsuit, or will the ex just get a slap on the wrist?

Thanks in advance.

[socrateaser]

>State of Residence is Virginia, but jurisdiction is in
>Florida.
>
>Final Dissolution was signed by a judge on 7/1/2002.
>
>I would like to sue my ex for contempt of a court order as
>follows:
>
>1) Court order stated that I was to be held financially
>irresponsible for the CP's vehicle. CP got vehicle repossesed,
>and the entry has populated my credit report as a derogatory
>item. (The creditor does not care about the final judgement as
>legally permissable). I am trying everything and anything to
>satisfy child support arrears at this point.
>
>2) CP signed an affidavit indicating that prior to the final
>judgement, I did not pay child support directly to CP. (I have
>checks to prove otherwise and would like to reduce child
>support arrears based on that).
>
>My questions are as follows:
>
>1) Is there a Statute of Limitations to come after the ex for
>these two items? If so, where could I find that information?

SOLs  are probably in the FL code of civil procedure. I've not looked up a FL SOL in a long time, so I don't really remember.

The affidavit is not enforceable, so forget about it. Parent's cannot independently bargain away their children's right to support without a court ordering the bargain in the child's best interests.

For contempt you need to prove that: (1) there was a valid, enforceable order;  (2) that your ex knew of the order; and that she didn't pay the liability.

All three elements are easy to prove. But, your ex has an affirmative defense, if she can show that her actions were not "with wilful and conscious disregard of the court order," which means that she didn't have the ability to pay the bill at the time it came due. If she succeeds, then no contempt, however, the court could conceivable reallocate the original property settlement in order to compensate you for any out of pocket expense.

And, the court could also order some money sanctions for the damage to your credit record.

But, it probably won't, because you had a legal obligation to try to avoid the consequences of your ex's actions which caused you damage. I.e., you should have tried to pay the bill or make more arrangements with the creditor, and then immediately returned to court to get restitution from your ex for her unjust enrichment at your expense.

I can't really call it without knowing exactly what your and your ex's financial circumstances were and how each of you would go about proving them to the judge for the period of time since the final judgment. The longer the time span, the more time there is to try to accout for to the judge, so he's clear that you couldn't avoid the consequences and that she could pay.

>
>2) Am I likely to obtain a monetary gain from this lawsuit, or
>will the ex just get a slap on the wrist?

See above.

PS. Please don't post multiple question threads. I only want to deal with one of your issues at a time -- otherwise, the issues become too confused for me to follow. Thanks.

[72264kids]

In the future, I will not post multiple question threads. Thanks

I would appreciate it if you would clarify one thing though:

1) How do I get credit for payments made directly to the CP (for which  I can substanitate checks), and specifically for the purpose of child support, prior to the final judgement? If it is not necessarily a motion for contempt that I would file, then what motion would it be?

Thank you.

[socrateaser]

>In the future, I will not post multiple question threads.
>Thanks
>
>I would appreciate it if you would clarify one thing though:
>
>1) How do I get credit for payments made directly to the CP
>(for which  I can substanitate checks), and specifically for
>the purpose of child support, prior to the final judgement? If
>it is not necessarily a motion for contempt that I would file,
>then what motion would it be?

If what you're saying is that you were ordered to pay support during the pendancy of the dissolution, or you were retroactively assessed a support obligation for that period, and that later you did not receive credit for payments made during that pendancy, then you can file a motion for clarification and recalculation of support arrears with the court.

However, if there is a judgment of arrears already made, then you would move for a "nunc pro tunc" (latin for "now for then") order, amending the existing judgment (this also can be styled as a motion for reconsideration, or a motion to amend final judgment.

Bottom line is if you can prove that someone blew the calculations, and that the other parent is being unjustly enriched at your expense, then the court will give you credit. But, if that info was all available at the time the original judgment was entered and you never brought it to the court's attention, then you are S O L.

[medolyns]

I don't know if this helps clarify things, but in his first post, the OP wrote:
> 2) CP signed an affidavit indicating that prior to the final
>judgement, I did not pay child support directly to CP. (I have
>checks to prove otherwise and would like to reduce child
>support arrears based on that).

The OP's point, I believe, was that the CP signed a false affidavit claiming that they had received no child support directly from the CP. Does this change anything?

[socrateaser]

>I don't know if this helps clarify things, but in his first
>post, the OP wrote:
>> 2) CP signed an affidavit indicating that prior to the
>final
>>judgement, I did not pay child support directly to CP. (I
>have
>>checks to prove otherwise and would like to reduce child
>>support arrears based on that).
>
>The OP's point, I believe, was that the CP signed a false
>affidavit claiming that they had received no child support
>directly from the CP. Does this change anything?

Yeah. That would be fraud on the court and would definitely prove contempt. You might get some jail time out of that one.

[72264kids]

I was not ordered to pay child support during the pendancy of the dissolution. I was, however, advised to pay child support directly to the mother by my attorney at the time.

I was however assessed a support obligation (in the form of arrearages) for that pendancy.

I think that this falls into the category of "this information was available at the time", but I never brought it to the courts attention.

However, the ex didn't sign the affidavit of $0 received until months past the Final Judgement was signed.

I'll have to go back and get my facts straight.

I will post them all when I get that data.

Thanks

[socrateaser]

>I was not ordered to pay child support during the pendancy of
>the dissolution. I was, however, advised to pay child support
>directly to the mother by my attorney at the time.
>
>I was however assessed a support obligation (in the form of
>arrearages) for that pendancy.
>
>I think that this falls into the category of "this information
>was available at the time", but I never brought it to the
>courts attention.
>
>However, the ex didn't sign the affidavit of $0 received until
>months past the Final Judgement was signed.
>
>I'll have to go back and get my facts straight.
>
>I will post them all when I get that data.
>
>Thanks
>

If support wasn't ordered, and you paid it anyway, that is what is known in the legal world as a gift.

As for the affidavit, it would only be fraud if there was a court order for support in place and the parent had actually received support at the time of the affidavit's signing.