Administrative CS modification

[Portia]

Case is in Oregon.  CS was modified in 2004.  Custody Mod filed in early 2006 just settled.  I am now filing an Administrative CS Mod downward be/c Mother changed jobs and testified earlier this year her income has practically doubled, and with the settlement my parenting time is substantially increased.  So her new income is on record in OR.

The tricky part is that I don't live in OR and mother since moved to another state as well.  

In my packet for the administrative hearing I can use her own testimony in OR court this year about her new income as evidence of it.  However, she is a high level executive with an international company and I am certain she will also receive a bonus around 20-25% of her income and has a healthy benefits package.

OR won't or can't subpeona her in her new state.  The Admin Hearing Dept. can request she provide evidence of her income and, if she won't [which is likely] they can use her testimony, so I know the base salary will go in.  Can I just factor in her bonus in my paperwork and leave her to dispute it, or do I need to obtain evidence of an exact number?  The bonus is likely around $35,000, so it makes a bit of an impact on the CS Calculator.

I am wondering if I should or could:

1.  Claim it and make her dispute it with evidence
2.  Provide some kind of bolstering evidence - like a salary report for comparable jobs with comparable companies?  Would that help?

Thank you so much in advance!

[socrateaser]

>I am wondering if I should or could:
>
>1.  Claim it and make her dispute it with evidence

If neither parent nor child lives in Oregon, then Oregon has lost continuing, exclusive jurisdiction for modification of support, and will lose jurisdiction for custody after the child has resided in a different state for six months.

Forget about Oregon. If you are the paying parent, then you can file in your state or you can file where the other parent lives now. The court will use the law of your state if you file there, or of the other parent's state if you file there.

Note. When you file for an administrative resolution, the State becomes the petitioner, and the other parent becomes the respondent. You are only a witness, so while the state may have authority to subpoena records, it doesn't have to. If you want to exercise the maximum due process to which you are entitled, then hire an attorney and go to the court directly. Otherwise you are at the mercy of what the State feels like doing for you -- which may be nothing.

Generally, in administrative hearings, the state will just use the parents' tax return and last two paystubs. They won't go any farther unless it's plainly obvious that a parent is hiding something big.

>2.  Provide some kind of bolstering evidence - like a salary
>report for comparable jobs with comparable companies?  Would
>that help?

If you plan on doing any of this, you need to go to the court directly.

[Portia]

Thank you - wow - lightning fast response!

May I email you with a specific detail? I hesitate to post it because it will definitely identify the case.

[socrateaser]

>Thank you - wow - lightning fast response!
>
>May I email you with a specific detail? I hesitate to post it
>because it will definitely identify the case.

I only accept email on criminal law matters, or if I think I need to see documents to give you an opinion -- which in this situation, I don't. Sorry.

[Portia]

Okay - understood.

There was a UCCJEA hearing in fall 2006, that is the hearing where the income testimony came in [via bragging, no less].  OR retained "home state" jurisdiction.

  The settlement is in final form on the OR judge's desk.  It isn't registered in either party's new state yet.  The settlement contains a credit reducing the CS, and so it will be recalculated in OR immediately anyways to reflect the settlement.

We figure might as well rectify it all in one calculation.

Hadn't considered filing it HERE.  The original dissolution is registered here as well as in her state.

1.  If we do file Admin CS mod here could she move to have it heard in her state?  It wouldn't involve custody modification at all, but she has primary custody so her state will become the 'home state" eventually.

We have been through three years of battle and be/c of SPARC and good counsel we prevailed.  We're a little burnt on litigation and hope an admin will do the trick.

[socrateaser]

>1.  If we do file Admin CS mod here could she move to have it
>heard in her state?  It wouldn't involve custody modification
>at all, but she has primary custody so her state will become
>the 'home state" eventually.

If you open a UIFSA administrative case with your local child support agency, then they will contact the agency in the other state, and that state will file a court action against the other parent. The court of the other state will use the law of your new state to calculate your support obligation, because you are the paying parent.

I don't know where the respective parties are now located, but there is a LARGE difference between the support guidelines for different jurisdictions. So, if the state where the obligee parent and child reside is one with a lower support guideline than exists in your jurisdiction, then you should consider submitting to the personal jurisdiction of the other state by filing for the modification in that state, because it may save you more money than any other strategy.

[Portia]

Excellent!  I'm off to play with the CS guideline calculators.

Thank you so very much!

And again - I cannot stress enough to anyone reading - this site - Socrateaser, the forums, the ARTICLES! All the resources here, have been very, very instrumental in helping us prevail over a vicious, alienating BM.    It can be done.   Best to all, and thank you again, Socrateaser!