Reduced CS, retroactive. How does this work?

[notnew]

My CS order was modified and reduced. The agreement our lawyers worked out makes the order effective in January of this year.

The order was just signed by the judge two weeks ago and after checking today, I am told it should be completely processed in the court by the end of this week and then the copies will go to the OSCE where I have a witholding order in place to make sure I have records of the payments.

My question is this: How will OSCE handle the fact that I have been overpaying since January? I've been overpaying approximately $150.00 per month.

Will I get a  refund? Will my ex owe me the money? Will they reduce my weekly payment until the "extra" is paid?

Anybody out there with any experience in this area?

[mistoffolees]

>My CS order was modified and reduced. The agreement our
>lawyers worked out makes the order effective in January of
>this year.
>
>The order was just signed by the judge two weeks ago and after
>checking today, I am told it should be completely processed in
>the court by the end of this week and then the copies will go
>to the OSCE where I have a witholding order in place to make
>sure I have records of the payments.
>
>My question is this: How will OSCE handle the fact that I have
>been overpaying since January? I've been overpaying
>approximately $150.00 per month.
>
>Will I get a  refund? Will my ex owe me the money? Will they
>reduce my weekly payment until the "extra" is paid?
>
>Anybody out there with any experience in this area?


If your lawyers worked out an agreement, then ask your attorney how to deal with it. In general, the courts will not retroactively change child support, so what you're suggesting is not going to be dictated by the court's rules, but rather by the terms that your attorneys worked out.

[notnew]

The agreement is effective jan 1 of this year. My ex and her attorney have dragged their feet on signing and then it was off to the court. It has been signed by the judge and is now on it's way to the OCSE.

I have $50 left on my retainer, I don't plan on calling the attorney. I was just wondering if anybody else out there had experienced this type of thing.

Yes, the court's will retroactively change child support in many cases.

No, the rules of the child support enforcement office are what will apply here. There are no "terms". The monthly amount was reduced period. I pay through an earnings witholding order that I put in place to keep my ex from making false allegations against me.

I was just curious. I suppose there aren't many people who have gone through this type of scenario so I will just have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.

I was just wondering how it would work. Since in the end I would have overpaid her roughly close to $1,000, will she owe me and will I have to take her court in a civil action to be repaid or will the OCSE simply modify my weekly witholding to give me the credit like when they tack on an extra $50 or so each week to pay arrearages except this is reversed. Or, will they cut me a check and refund me the difference? Who knows. I checked out the web site for the OCSE and of course, they don't cover this scenario at all. It seems in their opinion, deadbeat parents are behind or not paying at all.

Thanks anyway. I'll just wait and see.

[mistoffolees]

>The agreement is effective jan 1 of this year. My ex and her
>attorney have dragged their feet on signing and then it was
>off to the court. It has been signed by the judge and is now
>on it's way to the OCSE.
>
>I have $50 left on my retainer, I don't plan on calling the
>attorney. I was just wondering if anybody else out there had
>experienced this type of thing.
>
>Yes, the court's will retroactively change child support in
>many cases.
>
>No, the rules of the child support enforcement office are what
>will apply here. There are no "terms". The monthly amount was
>reduced period. I pay through an earnings witholding order
>that I put in place to keep my ex from making false
>allegations against me.
>
>I was just curious. I suppose there aren't many people who
>have gone through this type of scenario so I will just have to
>wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.
>
>I was just wondering how it would work. Since in the end I
>would have overpaid her roughly close to $1,000, will she owe
>me and will I have to take her court in a civil action to be
>repaid or will the OCSE simply modify my weekly witholding to
>give me the credit like when they tack on an extra $50 or so
>each week to pay arrearages except this is reversed. Or, will
>they cut me a check and refund me the difference? Who knows. I
>checked out the web site for the OCSE and of course, they
>don't cover this scenario at all. It seems in their opinion,
>deadbeat parents are behind or not paying at all.
>
>Thanks anyway. I'll just wait and see.

I would imagine that you'd have to file a civil action (small claims, presumably), but I'm not sure the court would take the case - they might refer it back to Family Court.

I can't imagine that OCSE will change the numbers. They have an order that says that they have to collect $xxx per month and they're going to do it. Without another court order that says to collect $yyy, they'll continue to collect the amount on the court order.

You could always negotiate with ex. Tell her you're going to go to small claims court to collect the overpayment unless she agrees to return it (or a portion of it). If she thinks she's going to lose anyway, she might do it to avoid inconvenience and lawyer's fees.

[notnew]

She works for her lawyer so I don't think fees are an issue for her unfortunately.

I'll wait and see what happens. If necessary, I'll pursue this in court to recoup my money, but know that I probably will never be paid if she is ordered to pay it back to me.

Another new chapter in my saga!

[jcsct5]

Every time I have had a modification that was retroactive it was spelled out in the order how much was owed at the time the order was entered.

Does your order address the fact that you had overpaid, or does it just say that the new amount is XXX effective Jan 1? Or have you always been paying through you Child support Agency?

If the court order addresses how much you have paid/overpaid or if you have been making all your payment through the Child Support Agency then I would think they wouldn't take any money from your check or refund any money taken until the overpayment is used up with upcoming support obligations.

Here in CA our local child support agency returned all payments made by my ex to him when they thought he had overpaid but they hadn't entered the order correctly so for almost a year my ex would pay every month and then they would cut him a check for the amount they thought he had overpaid.

If you haven't been paying through the agency and the court order doesn't address your balance at the date of filing then I would think you would need to prove to the child support agency that you made the payments that you did and that you weren't behind in child support for them to credit you properly.

Good luck with this.

[notnew]

I have been paying through the OCSE for about 6 years. I'm sure they have encountered this before and know what to do. It's a first for me!

I think you are right about them crediting my account and not sending money to the ex until it is paid up. I guess that will make me ahead in my CS obligation then since my employer will still be taking the reduced amount out each week.

thanks, your reply was helpful!

[Jade]

>I have been paying through the OCSE for about 6 years. I'm
>sure they have encountered this before and know what to do.
>It's a first for me!
>
>I think you are right about them crediting my account and not
>sending money to the ex until it is paid up. I guess that will
>make me ahead in my CS obligation then since my employer will
>still be taking the reduced amount out each week.
>
>thanks, your reply was helpful!

They aren't going to do it that way.  Do they take all of the arrears (not saying that you have any) from one's paycheck all at once?  No, they take a set additional amount until it is paid off.  

The court will probably set an amount to be deducted from child support until it is refunded.  They aren't going to leave child(ren) without support.

[williaer]

My DH's ordered amount was cut in half and they went back tot he date he filed. Unfortunately- due to a period of unemployment- he had a great deal of arrears built up- so all of the over payment went toward that. We went from owing $4K in arrears to $700. If he hadn't had arrears, he would have just been ahead by $3300 I suppose. We are ahead right now by $300...we aren't going to get a check for that amount- it will just cut off the child support a month early or whatever- when it's time for the order to end.

My guess- your support will just end earlier than it would have- because you are ahead.

[smofJ]

At one time my ex was behind in child support.  Every year they intercepted his tax refund check automatically without me doing anything.  The last year they did that ex was making extra payments to try and catch up.  When OSCE filed the intercept he was XXX dollars behind, but by the time they actually received the tax check he was not that much behind.  They cut him a check for the extra money they collected and mailed it to him.

Just giving a possibilty, they may start cutting you a check for what your work sends in every week until your credit is zero.