Child Support Modification vs. Disability Benefits. What to do?

[ocean]

They should NOT redo anything at a contempt hearing and if the judge leans in that direction, have your DH say that we are not here for that and if this is going go in that direction he wants a lawyer. She CAN once you serve her, ask for a MODIFICATION and then it will be discussed, but contempt is just asking the judge to enforce the order. Even if she starts paying the daycare now.,..shows she CAN afford it...so that is good BUT she still owes the past amount and since you know she is receiving money that should be garnished. (Family court depends in the judge...not even the county or state...how the judge feels that day....)

Have you considered calling or sending in evidence to SSDI that she is no longer disabled? I am sure they would be interested in knowing she can do all that but cant sit at a desk and work!

[MissDesire]

She offered to pay $50 a month and she owes around $50 a week so in her little version of the world 25% is a "good" effort to try and be able to claim one of the children. But I actually looked up on irs.gov and she doesn't even have them enough overnights in the year to qualify for the child tax credit anyway!I guess if she is smart enough to get a lawyer and go for modificationthat is up to her, but basically that would mean that poorFatherforever would have to legally pay even more than he already hasbeen.

I wouldn't know the first thing to do to put in evidence of her "healthy, workable" state. Do they have an actually agency that deals with disability evidence. Bascially she can keep going to her doctor whenever she has to have a reevaluation and say that it still hurt so much to stand and walk and they sign away another few months of disability for her. /sigh

[ocean]

No way for the tax credit...She doesnt pay support!! and she is not up to date at all with the child care.... Use her niceness for the next few weeks and get some of the money back. The way I see it, he is paying 100% now of child care and trying to get back something so he cant loose in court. If he comes out of there with anything he wins... The evidence will be emails, texts, and certified letters to her with the copies of receipts for the daycare costs. Tell her is xx a week for her share. She can pay them directly or to you, her choice. If she asks about the taxes...you are not up to date with the daycare costs, until you are up to date the answer is no. I have been paying 100% of childs care and entitled to the tax break.  (By the way, If the orders dont give her the tax break she does not get it....even if she is up to date...only if HIS orders something about it...).

File his taxes early...first one in with childs social security number gets the refund or it will take months to try and win that battle....she just wants money and claiming child will get her hudreds or even thousands of dollars in refund money. Dont fall into the trap that she will give you money AFTER the refund...no way...he has been the only parent so he gets to claim child.

[Kitty C.]

I agree with ocean 100%......BT, DT.

File your taxes IMMEDIATELY upon receipt of all forms you need.  We've been using Turbo Tax for the past 8-10 years and it's been great and fast.  DH can claim SS every year as long as he's current on CS as of Dec. 31.  The ONE year BM claimed he was behind was also the year the CS order got moved from the county to CSRU (Child Support Recover Unit) and they started garnishing his wages......so there's NO way he would have been behind.  The only reason she thought he was behind is because CSRU didn't get payment to her until after 1/1, even though they got it from DH's employer on time.

So we filed first and claimed SS (as usual), but she was adamant that she could claim SS.  It wasn't until past the 4/15 tax deadline that she finally accepted a notarized letter from CSRU stating DH was current as of 12/31.........and by then we were sure she'd filed and claimed SS, too.  Sure enough, come the next Christmas, we got a letter from the IRS stating SS's SSN had been used on more than one return, but if we filed correctly, to ignore the letter....which we did!

But after talking to an actual human with the IRS, their quote to me was: 'He who filed first, gets.'  They said that any subsequent returns with duplicate SSN's listed would be audited and held up indefinitely.

We never did find out what happened to BM on that one..........all I know is that she's NEVER tried it again!

[Fatherforever]

This topic is getting more and more in depth. I have told my Ex in the past that she will not be able to claim on taxes, but I fear she will try and file for one of them anyways. I am looking forward to paying off some of her debt she left me with the tax refund, along with finally paying off my lawyer from our divorce, and getting some money setup for some savings accounts for the children. I know for a fact if she gets the child tax credit I will not see a cent. I don't know how good the government is at issuing her end of the year earnings to her, I know the company I work for takes their sweet time with the W-4s. If she happens to file for the child tax credit and it says in our decree that she has to be current on her child care, can I hold her in contempt for that as well?

She will try everything possible to get as much money as she can (except the logical one... getting a job). What were you talking about ocean, about submitting evidence of a non-disability to SSDI? Can that be done? If it can, I most certainly want to pursue it. I am done with her playing the "cancer" card and refusing to help out with anything.

I will most definitely get my taxes out ASAP, I just hope I get my W-4 ASAP!

Thanks for the help everyone, as always.

[Kitty C.]

It's 'W-2' and by federal law your employer has to give it to you by Jan. 30.  There have been years where we got our W-2's on Jan. 30, I've got our taxes filed by no later than Feb. 2, and we've received our refund within 10-12 days.

If you file first, you will get it all.  Even if she does file and claim the child tax credit, her return will stop cold if yours has already been processed.  So you need/must file it electronically.  You can do it on line with Turbo Tax and it's incredibly easy.   They walk you through the entire return and asks questions depending on the answers you give.  I know that there have been times we've gotten a larger refund then we would have received without Turbo Tax, simply because of the questions they ask throughout the process.

Let me ask this:  do you think she actually has the wherewithall to file online or electronically (and has the funds to do it) or even realizes how imperative to her immediate filing would be?  I may not know her, but I'd venture on the side of probably not.  Which is your edge to getting your return in first.  Just make sure you have all your paperwork ready to go when you get your W-2, so that you can file immediately.

Then even if she does file and tries to claim the child tax credit, her return will stop cold.  And, unless she outright tells you, you probably won't know if she did until you get a letter from the IRS stating your kids' SSN's were used on 2 different returns.  It will state that if you filed your return correctly, then you can ignore the letter.  But if you filed in error, then they will ask you to fill out the form that will be included with the letter.  Remember that she will get the same letter and form and it will be up to her to respond appropriately.

[Fatherforever]

I have heard that H&R Block doesn't even need your W-2 for you to file taxes, that they can look it up from your last pay stub, is that true? I know that you can get your return almost immediately through them. They are attached to a bank and basically give you a loan until your tax check goes through. If I don't need my W-2 for the tax return I will be filing the second I can, Happy New Year tax season!

[tigger]

Probably true but they will also charge you an arm and a leg for that loan too.  Usually if you file electronically before a Wednesday, your refund is deposited into your account two (or three) Fridays afterward.  Makes the loan seem silly.  And definitely NOT fiscally wise.

[Kitty C.]

I agree with tigger...........H&R Block charge exhorbitant fees and will take more of your refund.  With Turbo Tax, 104EZ and simple returns are FREE to file and there is an additional electronic fee for direct deposit (quicker by far then having it go through the mail), the Deluxe edition (for deductions) is only $29.95.  You don't pay them anything if you're getting a refund big enough to cover the fees, they just deduct it from your refund.  Our history has been that once we've submitted our return electronically, we've had our refund in the bank within 2 weeks, sometimes less depending.

[Fatherforever]

Thank you everyone,

I am really anxious about getting my taxes in, because of what she might do. I've setup Turbo tax with all my personal information, so once I get my refund I can get it taken care of ASAP. My Ex hasn't mentioned anything more to me about the taxes, but that isn't always a positive sign. I can't trust her not to file for one of them anyways.

Looking to file the contempt motion end of January when I get my tax return. I really want a lawyer to write up the papers and possibly even be there in court, because I don't want there to be any loop holes and I have a feeling she will hire a lawyer for sure. And if it does go that route I can always ask the judge to add lawyer fees onto her bill, since she's the reason I have to head to court in the first place, believe me I would love it if she would just pay her share.

Ocean, what were you saying about submitting evidence of disability fraud? If you have anymore information about it, I would love to hear it. I hope 2010 goes smoother than 2009 and maybe my ex will get a nice wakeup call and realize again that she's a parent and has responsibilities.

Thank you!

~Fatherforever