Appeal court

[johnw]

Dear Soc
             I don't know which way to turn now. I live in NJ. Last March my ex took me to court for more child support, and my support payments were cut in half. She wrote a nasty letter to the judge and he vacated his decision and put it before another judge. Both judges agreed and gave me credit for having my kids 182 overnights per year, which is 50% of the time. At the time of divorce, and the 1st judge we saw used the shared custody worksheet when calculating child support, as clearly the law states should be used, based on the amount of time I have the kids. The time I do have them is actually well above the minimum requirements necessary to utilize the shared custody worksheet. However, the 2nd judge that heard our case, gave me credit for exactly the same amount of time, but used the sole custody worksheet which nearly tripled my support payments. The judge gave no reason as to why she used that worksheet. My attorney appealed the decision. We just found out today the appellate court did not agree with us and upheld the judges decision to use the sole custody worksheet.

By the legal definition of which worksheet is to be used when, how can they possibly use the wrong worksheet to calculate my support?
Now that I have lost on appeal, what options to I have to get my child support calculated on the correct worksheet?
Can I take her back to court and ask for a modification of child support based on use of the wrong worksheet?

Please help. This is so wrong that we split time with the kids 50/50, yet 1 judge out of 3 used the sole custody worksheet, which seems clearly wrong by the legal definitions, and now it stands as official. There has to be something I can do.

[socrateaser]

...home of the most unjust court system in the USA (ed. op.).

I can't give you any advise without reading the appellate court opinion. Was this an appeal of an administrative ruling, i.e., was this one local Superior Court judge who heard your appeal, or was your appeal to the NJ Court of Appeals?

If it was before a local judge, then you have two more appeals that you could make: NJ Court of Appeals; NJ Supreme Court. This will cost you some serious change, and I wouldn't advise it unless you have an extremely good case.

What is your attorney's opinion of the court decision? And, I'm not looking for "my attorney says it sucks!" I want to know his legal opinion on the merits of the ruling.

Better yet, post the ruling, word for word.

[johnw]

This appeal went to the NJ Sate Appellate court. It was big money, but the legal definitions were so clear as to the proper use of the worksheets, we were all sure we would win. I should receive a copy of the appellate court opinion tomorrow. I will post it word for word for your opinion. My attorney is on vacation this week so I have not spoke to him yet. I spoke with his secretary today. She told me he will call me next week. She also said that my attorney has never been so confident he was going to win a case. She said he was in shock that the appellate court was going to allow them to use a sole custody worksheet.
If I decide to go to the Supreme court is it like starting over or does my appeallate paperwork get forwarded?
Can I file my own motion for modification of support based on the wrong worksheet or is that a waste of time now?
Forever will the sole custody worksheet be used anytime she decides to take me to court to up her support?

It is amazing. She works 3 days a week, and makes several thousand $ a year more than me, and I'm paying her $620/mth. I have friends in almost the same income/time situation that pay nothing.

[socrateaser]

>If I decide to go to the Supreme court is it like starting
>over or does my appeallate paperwork get forwarded?

It gets forwarded, but your attorney will write a new brief discussing why the appellate court messed up. Also, the Supreme Court can decline to hear the appeal and then you're done, unless there is a Federal question involved, and then you could go to the U.S. Supreme Court -- but, that's not real likely to happen.

>Can I file my own motion for modification of support based on
>the wrong worksheet or is that a waste of time now?

I don't understand your quesiton. Rephrase, please.

>Forever will the sole custody worksheet be used anytime she
>decides to take me to court to up her support?

I need to read the appellate decision before I comment on what your options might be at the trial court level.

>It is amazing. She works 3 days a week, and makes several
>thousand $ a year more than me, and I'm paying her $620/mth. I
>have friends in almost the same income/time situation that pay
>nothing.

Well, in your next life, try to avoid NJ. The last good thing that happened there was my parents leaving -- and that was in 1941. LOL! Oy, was I lucky, or what?

[johnw]

Sorry,
        to rephrase my question.

Can I go to my local county court where this all started, and file my own motion for modification of child support, and ask that they use the shared custody worksheet?

[socrateaser]

I think that your appellate will answer that question, so I'll need to read it before I can comment.

[jolawanda]

so far since I have been reading this board a bit more regularly than in the past few years, I have read three lovely newFuckyajersey situations....What county are you in for all of this?


Thanks~!