Eligible for Small Claims Court?

[emerson]

 I have joint legal and joint physical custody of my 3 yr old daughter.  The Parenting Plan we drew up a year ago stipulates that the BM and I split evenly a few expenses, including the cost of the nanny's cell phone bill/mth, which is paid as part of BM's Family PLan.  

BM has acknowledged for 12 mths that she made an error in calculating the amount ($240) but she refuses to refund the money.  Can I take her to Small Claims Court to have the money returned to me?

Los Angeles, CA.

[tigger]

eom

[emerson]

I've always understood that to be a big no-no.  Since the shared expenses stipulation is a Court Order, and that Court Order hasn't been modified by the court, I can't adjust downward what I pay on my own "authority."  

[Zephyr]

You are correct, you cannot just arbitrarily modify the amount you pay, the state would still show you as having arrears. You may want to try to mediate this issue....I'm thinking it's not quite big enough to make a whole court to-do about it, but you certainly do want to get it fixed if at all possible.

[tigger]

has overpaid his 50% of the nanny's cell phone by $240.  Therefore that's a credit.  I was thinking that she is invoicing him each month the amount owed on the 50/50 expenses.  So just keep deducting until you've up your credit for that expense.  CS would remain untouched.

[emerson]

I really appreciate the response.  

I should have been clearer about my case: I am not paying state guideline formula for child support.  We're about 50/50 custody.  

We split 50/50 three monthly expenses (health insurance, cell phone for nanny and child care from nanny.)  I write a check to her for my half of the three and she pays the bills.

I did not ask to verify the amount for the nanny's cell phone bill when we drafted and signed the parenting plan.  The BM, either fraudulently or by mistake, set the amount at $40/mth instead of $20/mth, which she finally admitted is what it should have been.  Despite the fact that I guessed the error a month after we signed the PP and asked to see phone bills to verify, she just refused, and now that we've held our mandatory 1 year mediation to determine any changes in expenses, she is refusing to refund the $240 overcharge.  

Is this a candidate for small claims court?  I won't hire a lawyer to recover such a small sum ni Family Court -- any other options?  Thanks for the input.

[tigger]

agreement for the upcoming year?  If not, I would just request that your amount be deducted by $20/month to recoup the overpayment.  If you've already signed, I'd think you might be out of luck because you agreed and signed a contract to pay XX per month even though that amount was incorrect.  

Trust but verify are words to live by.

[MixedBag]

so you're out $240.

You say you're in CA.

What does the CS calculator show for CA??  not asking you to share the actual amount, but go take a look at it.

I personally think this falls under pick and choose...

One that I would not pick if I was totally totally underpaying CS.

See -- she could/would litigate that end of it and probably IMHO get the court's support for "calculator - level CS"

Sounds like it's corrected for the next year.

Also sounds like whenever you reimburse her for anything, she should provide paper proof of the amount she is claiming to be paying.

Ask for that for everything over the next year.....and then pay.

Then have that stipulation mediated into the next year's agreement.

Bad on CP for doing this to you over the last year, THAT's for sure.

As for sharing the bills -- she's probably afraid it reveals too much of her (due) privacy.  Camilla once shared a bill with me and even blacked out stuff I wasn't supposed to read or see -- didn't work, I could read it anyways and learned stuff she surely didn't want me to know.  Oh well life goes on.

[emerson]

Thanks very much for all the perspectives offered to my post.

Hard for me to understand why someone would hold on to someone else's money; and what you mentioned is exactly what she said to me, 'You signed the agreement, it is what it is."  But what about ... basic decency?

Yeah, I'm an idiot.  It's not alot of money, but it bugs me.

Have to look into the chances of her trying to bring in a CS calculation.  I worked really hard to create an agreement that had us splitting a small number of expenses rather than me paying CS, because it's bogus.  We share our daughter's time equally, we're BOTH CP, and BM comes from tons of money while I'll be paying off lawyers for 20 years. Most imp., I'm not a funding organization, I'm a Dad.  

Great idea, to insist on paper receipts for every expense I contribute to.  This year's agreement was nearly inked when she decided to throw in a bunch of junk at the last minute, so I can think about insisting on that, as well as reducing this year's cell phone share to compensate for last year's overcharge.  

No chance in Small Claims court, though, huh?  Even if I can show that I disputed the amount only weeks after signing and even if I can show it was fraudulent?  

Thanks again for the excellent advice.


so you're out $240.
>
>You say you're in CA.
>
>What does the CS calculator show for CA??  not asking you to
>share the actual amount, but go take a look at it.
>
>I personally think this falls under pick and choose...
>
>One that I would not pick if I was totally totally underpaying
>CS.
>
>See -- she could/would litigate that end of it and probably
>IMHO get the court's support for "calculator - level CS"
>
>Sounds like it's corrected for the next year.
>
>Also sounds like whenever you reimburse her for anything, she
>should provide paper proof of the amount she is claiming to be
>paying.
>
>Ask for that for everything over the next year.....and then
>pay.
>
>Then have that stipulation mediated into the next year's
>agreement.
>
>Bad on CP for doing this to you over the last year, THAT's for
>sure.
>
>As for sharing the bills -- she's probably afraid it reveals
>too much of her (due) privacy.  Camilla once shared a bill
>with me and even blacked out stuff I wasn't supposed to read
>or see -- didn't work, I could read it anyways and learned
>stuff she surely didn't want me to know.  Oh well life goes
>on.

[Davy]

>>> We share our daughter's time equally, we're BOTH CP, and BM >>> comes from tons of money while I'll be paying off lawyers for 20 >>> years. Most imp., I'm not a funding organization, I'm a Dad.

Hey Dad ... the above is music to my ears except paying lawyers !!  Congrats !!

If it were me I would not consider it frivilous to enter Small Claims to recover the original $240 plus another $240 for a collection fee.

It's Howdy Doody time ... might be a lot of fun !!

Best to ya !!