Court Tuesday

[tjraid18]

    I've already posted on this, but my court date is Tuesday so I thought I would ask a few last minute questions. I am appealing a child support order that says I am making way more than what I am. I have proof of current income ---- so should be able to get it adjusted. In court there will be the judge, myself, and the state child support lawyer/representative lady. My ex could be there,but she won't (I think)because she doesnt have to be, and because she is earning more money than she is reporting. Getting the Ch. Supp. amount lowered will help, but what I would really like to do is take care of the arrears (that I should not owe anyway, because of false information given by ex. in regards to child care costs in the past) and make the court aware that she is currently earning more than she says. I was thinking about personally subpeonaing financial information to help show the court what her actual income is. Peanutsdad and Soc. gave me great information about how I could do it myself, but her employers are private people that she babysits and cleans houses for. I just did'nt think it would be worth it.
   My question is---- Should I bring up the issues of wrongful arrears and of the ex's extra income, without any proof on paper??? I  want to real bad. It will bug the heck out of me to not say anything about it. I just had my kids Saturday from 2:00 to 8:00 and they told me mom is now babysitting 5 children. That could be a lot of money and make a big difference in the child support amount. Should I at least mention something to the judge and child support Rep.? Or would it be a waste of time?

[tjraid18]

    I had my child support hearing and thought I would share. I had a new proposed order for $636.00 --- but my income changed in October of 2003. They were figuring the amount according to me making $13.68 an hour. I have'nt worked since Oct. and just started getting unemployment two months ago. It wasn't too hard to request the hearing and to get the amount adjusted to where it should be. I just took my unemployment reciepts to court and went over them with the States attorney for the D. of CH. Supp. , before we went in front of the judge. I requested that the corrected amount be recognized back to the date of the new order (SEPT. 1). So I got it backdated further than I thought. I didn't realize the new order was that old; I tend to think of the child support order packets I get as (use your imagination). My "payee" was even there in court which surprised me. Actually it really surprised me because she provided the court with ALL of her earning statements. I was going to try to subpeona that info., but I didn't even have to. That will help get my amount more to where it should be also. All in all it went great. It wasn't really that hard, either. The States Attorney for C.S. was cordial --- but I could'nt help feeling that she was representing my ex instead of just representing the state. In fact, I would swear in court that she essentially was representing the"payee". It should'nt be like that. The state should keep both parents best interests in mind in order to best serve the child(ren) they are supposed to be trying to help. Not just the custodial moms. I asked the States Attorney if it would affect my ex-wifes monthly benefit amount if she were to sign off on the back child support that I should'nt owe anyway. She danced around the question. So I kept asking her .  Finally she said that it would'nt. They don't seem to understand or care that I would be able to be a lot better father to my kids if they had my interests in mind as well as my ex's. I didn't expect the back child support issue to even come up. Anyway, all in all it went pretty good. If there is anyone to frustrated to even try dealing with getting their child support situation straightened out --- maybe you can do it easier than you thought. If I can, anybody could.
                                                         tj