CS Question

[FLMom]

CS question in Florida folks. . . maybe someone here can answer a question for me?

Here's the deal:

Ex and I settled in court prior to the judge hearing our case and making a ruling. I agreed to pay CS and ex agreed to a joint schedule.

Court case was July 15. Judge wrote out what the two of us had agreed upon, and ordered the lawyers to both write up and present this new agreement and submit it to him. Also requested ex's lawyer to file a "motion to deviate" for the CS amount being less than state guidelines.

Lawyers now claim they have been playing phone tag for the last 4 months. Neither has submitted the agreement, and ex's lawyer has not submitted motion to deviate. Meanwhile, I know my ex needs this money but as his lawyer has not filed anything (or mine to be fair), my company won't accept the garnishment without an order in place.

After calling the local clerk of courts for instructions, about 6 weeks ago I started giving my ex the monthly amount every two weeks so that when this all finally is settled I won't be in arrears. All is WELL documented. Money orders and notorized statements.

So here's my question. Let's say it's November 15 and court was July 15. I've paid him three monthly payments now. Should I now consider myself current through September 15 or October 15? Would the first payment be due July 15 or August 15? If it's August then I'm on schedule, but if it's July I'm still behind.

I've searched the SPARC site and my state's statutues and I still can't find an answer. This is really important right now as my ex's lawyer has filed to find me in contempt for non-payment!---says I haven't paid ex a dime.

I'm well documented on what I have paid, but I'd really love to be able to say that I'm current when this hearing comes up at the end of this month.

Any input? Thanks!!

[ocean]

If court was on July 15th then that is when is starts (or that Friday). Is your CS monthly, weekly, bi-weekly? Then you may need to count weeks to see where you are paid up to.  For example: Last month there was 5 Fridays so depending on when you pay....Hope that helps! At the hearing, ask them for the exact amount owed....you can write a check then if you can and then ask them to state ZERO arrears as of .....   Good luck!

[stepma]

The child support starts when you guys are seperated as far as I know. So if he's had the kids since May you might owe more, unless you agreed to start the support payments as of the 15th then I think you are on track :7 , but Child support is a tricky thing. At least the judge will know you've been making an effort even though you're lawyers are still jerkin around.

[thaotherside]

In my experiance with Fl courts it didn't matter what the date was for that month, it was ordered for the 1st. of that month. example: I went for modification on say the 20th. papers said x-amount commencing on the first of that month. It will take up to 14 days for your employer to garnish your check once the lawyers submit it to them, my order said to pay custodial parent until then. I had to send mine through Tallahassee. If you are paying the non custodial parent directly, be sure you do it in check, money order or get written and SIGNED reciepts. You sound like a step up to the plate kind of person, I respect that. (Also, you may want to ask the lawyers if they are getting the IDO signed or if the non custodial is going to, I know it is the non custodials responsibility to do this and submit it to your employer.) Just keep doing what your doing, if your not sure and you can afford to pay the extra, even half, either way you will be ahead or caught up. Good Luck!

[FLMom]

Thanks guys!

Well, this was a modification after 4 years of divorce, so it wouldn't be retroactive to anything. Ex tried for retroactive support to the tune of 10k but I was able to produce receipts of payment and 'in kind' payments of care of our kids so both lawyers agreed retro was a moot point. Started from zero.

Payments were agreed upon on a monthly basis. In court neither side said anything about making payments before the garnishment went into effect. Ex's lawyer was adamant about it coming directly from my check and not from me, so I thought I was supposed to wait for the order to go through. Ex's atty is responsible for the IDO. When the waiting became so long of a time period was when I called the clerk of court. It's a good thing I did too. Even if ex ad written me out a receipt the clerk said that ex could have said it was for bubble gum and claimed I hadn't paid. That's why I did the money orders and the signed paper.

No one said anything in court about when CS would start, I just assumed it was the court date. I guess I should just consider the start of that month as the beginning of the payment schedules. That'll still leave me two months behind when we go for the hearing but it's better than five.

Thanks again for your posts.