Abated arrears now in question again

[missmindy]

I hope someone has had experience with this matter. My husband had a child support case with his ex girlfriend from 1995 until January 2001, when at the last court date she asked DOR to terminate the case. The judge allowed this, and the arrears that had accrued over the years were abated, which was told to her by the DOR representative. They had an ongoing seperate agreement and he paid support to her directly with no agency involved. He got receipts signed by her each time. Well, for whatever reason she decided that she didn't want that anymore and had papers filed to have it paid to the state depository and sent to her instead of my husband paying her. She has moved to Texas since the case was dropped, which he did not agree to, knew nothing about until 2 months after she moved, but even so, he sent support to her when she finally called and told him where she was. Now she's filed all kinds of papers about support and arrears, including the arrears that were dropped in court, which had since agreed between themselves not to worry about, and she's filed for the payments that he's missed since it was closed with DOR. My question is, since she was told the arrears were gone, she couldn't get them, how can she now file for them and expect to get them? Is this possible? Also, there was no court order for support after the case was closed, which he understands to mean there is no legal obligation for support without  one, but she's filing for this also. He was not a deadbeat who didn't pay; the type of work he's in, excavating, depends highly on the weather. If it rains, they can't work that day, and maybe not until the ground is dry enough. He fell on hard times and missed, not because he didn't care or was a deadbeat. Has anyone dealt with this type os thing at all? The mother is just doing this to be vindictive because I had a baby recently and she is jealous. They have their one daughter, who has several heart defects, and the mother is jealous that I had a girl baby. She has told people this and since she found out about me being pregnant is when this whole thing started. She's money hungry and vindictive, not to mention a lunatic. She does not work and her only income is the child's SSI, my husband's money and TANF if she receives it. She's NEVER worked, I don't mean she's just out of work right now. She has never had a job longer than a month, and since 1995 when they split she has had 2 jobs. And yet she harrasses my husband for his hard earned money. PLEASE write if you have advice, thanks!

[MKx2]

What state are you in (I realize BM and child have moved to TX) ... and why is this child receiving SSI?

How long a period of time did you DH NOT pay CS?  Is/was he paying the CO'd amount?

Did he stop paying her prior to her move to TX?

[missmindy]

We live in FL. They had their own agreement of $160 per month, basically what the court order was which was 40 a week, but she wanted a lump sum of 160. He paid most of the time but there were months ever so often that he couldn't, and he told her that this would happen sometimes and she said she understood. The child gets SSI for her heart defects. He is now paying support through the state depository of 40 per week. And he WAS paying her when she moved.  I don't see how she can get arrears when there was no legal obigation anymore and when they had their own personal agreement anyway, and the arrears that had accrued when ti WAS court ordered, they were both understood that they had been abated, that she would lose them if she closed the case. That's what the DOR rep said in court that day. It may be wrong that he missed payments and I'm not saying he's done nothing wrong. But legally I don't see how it can go in her favor when that court date basically relieved him of any LEGAL obligation for support.

[rini]

hello

have you recieved any paper work yet?  


what state are u in now?

my acvice would be to question jurisdiction your hubbys state would have jurisdiction unless you allow TX to assume jurisdiction.  or they would have to file under the UIFSA guidelines..

 and if the child has been gone less than 6 months i would probably file for custody in the original state.  (your state and make her bring the kid back)

my answer to their petition would be that texas has no jurisdiction over dh and that if they want to procede to do it the correct way with the state you reside in or through uifsa.

i would immediately begin finding transcripts of the hearings and getting ready for the case..

rini

[missmindy]

Thanks for your advice.....they actually have filed all these papers HERE, online I suppose, and plan to travel to court for the hearing. They have been gone for a year and 5 months. The only paperwork he has received are the papers that she filed to audit the past arrears, and about the court date. She has now filed a motion asking the court HERE in FL to appoint a handwriting analyst because we have turned in recepits that SHE didn't sign!!! They're crazy.

[missmindy]

Well, a small development in this case; the clerk of courts here has a website that you can view info about your case; when my husband was looking at theirs to see if anything is new, there is something dated 12-16-2003 stating that an e-mail was sent to the mother saying that the courts cannot enforce the case through the express lane enforcement program (just a fancy name for the child support enforcement program here). I wonder what that means. It may just mean that since he isn't in arrears on his current support, that has recently been court ordered, that they cannot step in, or hopefully it means that they will soon close the whole THING. It's been too stressful. Also, a question; is there a motion that can be filed with most courts to have a case dismissed? I think I've heard there is. The mother and HER mother have filed so many things since August when all this mess started that the judge will have to soon see that they're nuts. It's all for vengeance and is what thewhole case is based on. Any advice?

[KAT]

Mindy, do you have copy of the last court order which terminates supports & arrears?
KAT

[missmindy]

Actually Kat, we do, but the mother and HER mother insist that she did not agree to abate the arrears, she just agreed to him paying them to her directly. This was not what they had agreed. The order states that the case is closed through DOR, under where it says "Arrears as of January 24, 2001", it says $0. They swear that DOR made a mistake and "zeroed out their files" so they had one of the people at the courthouse do an audit of what the arrears were before the case was close, so she has filed for that as well as the payments he has missed since the case was closed. THEY insist that the only thing that was "disposed" as it is stamped on the paper was the motion for contempt. The DOR and the clerk's office has told my husband that she cannot get the prior arrears because they were abated and the order saying $0 was official, but she is filing anyway. Can the judge pity her or hate my huband for not paying and grant this to her? Is there a legal loophole that she can squeeze through to win her case? We are not rich people and all this woman and her mother do is harass us and try to make sure we don't have minute of hapiness. If it were as easy as telling her that the arrears were abated then why is the court allowing her to file this? They must be considering it. But in a short answer, he was to understand that the arrears could not be gone after, and is what he was told by 2 agencies, one of which is the one that she has filed papers at. Any advice at all?????

[KAT]

I would send in as your answer to her petition a motion to dismiss. Your typical "Comes now your plantiff Mr. Mindy, pro se." Include copies of all the paperwork even though it's already in the file the judge will probably have. She'll need to have a copy sent or served to her depending on your court system.
OH yeah, judge could feel sorry for her.  She has the right plumbing after all!!!  And judges are free to rule outside of the guidelines but must provide a reason for doing so. One can always appeal. Most courts feel that one parent can not forgive arrears as the money is ment for the child, the award is for the child, it's the child's money, not the custodial parents (yeah, okay). Our judge was a father bias witch. She even stated that bio couldn't pay arrears because she was indigent (it's called GET A JOB!) & now needed Mr.KAT's money to pay her bills. The troll never bought a bag of groceries or a gallon of milk when he was raising those kids for 7 years, never paid a thin dime. Now she sits on her fat butt doing nothing. Both teens have 9th grade (if that) educations & criminal records. Great parenting huh? And the courts awarded her a nice prize for doing so too! Several grand a month! The trailer is only 340!
Mindy, she can file anything she wants, it doesn't mean she is going to win!!! Keep that in mind! She can file to have him give her the moon if she wanted to (and probably would!)
My advice is to get your answer together ASAP then post it on Soc's board for him to review. According to your state, you might only have a short time to file the answer!
Let us know how it's going!!! Most of us have been there one way or the other!!!
Regards;
KAT

[missmindy]

Aw,thank you.....finally someone who knows where the heck I'm coming from, and my husband too. And do you know what? We have ALREADY WRITTEN up a motion to dismiss!! Do we think alike or what? We just have to go file it formally. It's so good, I wish you could read it.  It basically states that she is going back on their agreement for vindictive purposes, and because she has received TANF while in TX and while my husband has been paying child support and this is her effort to "prove" she didn't get support so the state of TX will get off her back. Yeah, she now says she didn;t GET ANY. (Support.) And the reason she says this is so TX will believe that and the TANF she got won't be illegal. They are coming to HIM to repay it, over $7,000, yet she says it was received on her behalf, not the child's. BULL. It's just such a mess. Judges are smart, they'll see through it I hope, but then again, I hope it doesn't go that far. This welfare, chld support soaking leech has hurt us long enough and we're both sick of it. She's even pressing charges on me for forging her name to receipts!! Which never happened. So file the motion to dismiss huh? My mom said the same thing since the case is based on HER incorrect facts and no actual merit. Sounds like the right thing. Thanks so much and keep in touch! I'll let you know what happens.