CS and welfare

[nikilax]

Ok, so DH got a letter from DHS last night which turned out to be
them letting him now that his ex is now on welfare and any/all CS
needs to be sent to them. No credit will be given for money sent to
BM which is how DH has pretty much always paid.

The only court order on record is for DH to pay 70/wk and that's
from 2001. He was in school full time and working part time back
then.

DHS says that if he thinks he owes child support or there is an
order in place, then he needs to pay them directly. Should we go by
the most recent order or by what we have been paying her?

Another complication is that DH was let go from his job yesterday
and we had already set up a payment through online bill pay to send
CS out to his ex.   DH does not want to put a stop payment on the check, but may change his mind if he can get a call in to DHS today.


Do we let DHS calculate how much he should be paying? I'm sure they'll be looking to do an increase from the last court order.

Things can be so complicated.

Nik

[LAK]

I'm sure they have a copy of it.  Unfortunately, the payment he has set up to go out will not get credited, but will be considered a gift to the CP.

[ocean]

I agree, You do not want them to recalculate it since it was based when he was still in school. I would send them the $70 and the copy of the court order. Then I would follow-up with a phone call and make sure his account is right. Every now and then, call and get a copy of the payments with a zero balance.  I would also stop payment on that check because you will owe an additional $70 to the governement.

[mistoffolees]

I'd be inclined to just pay it through DHS and document everything.

However, you should probably ask someone (either an attorney or DHS) for acknowledgement that you're not violating the court order by paying DHS.