Past over-payment of CS; take it out of current CS?

[Lunarfaze]

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.

[Giggles]

behind lowering your support from $195 bi-weekly to $196 per month?  Is it possible to work out an agreement with her?  I know most Child support enforcement offices allow those individuals with arrearages to pay it back by adding an additional amount to the scheduled CS payment.  Perhaps you could do this only in reverse....Instead of paying $196 per month...offer her $175 until the balance is paid in full???

For your protection since the wage garnishment has been lifted, I would make her sign a ledger stating that she actually received the support check and ALWAYS pay in the form of a check with a statement in the note section of the check stating "Child support for ____(month/year)"  This way she can never accuse you of not paying.