Son's Saving Account Closed

[damiang]

I'm new to all this so I'll try and explain myself the best I can.

I live in California and have a 4 1/2 year old boy.
Me and his mother (we were never married) split up when he was 1 1/2 years old.
At the time we were still together we opened up a savings account under his name. My son could not remove any money from the account until he turned 18 years of age. I put in more than $1,000 of my money to get him started, his mother never put in a single dime. The way the account would work is that every year the money was in the account it would accumulate interest.
Around the time my son was 2y/o I was laid off from my job.
I lost my car cause I couldn't pay it and I had to move back in with my parents.
I stopped paying her child support because I was broke.
I tryed helping in anyway I could, but there was no way I could afford to give her $700 a month.
At the time I didn't know I could go get a modification to get my payments lowered.
So for a whole year I didn't pay her the full amount of child support.
My current girlfriend was the one to inform me that I could get a modification. So around the time my son was 3y/o I went back to court and got my payments reduced to $90 month plus $50 for the arrears.
Still I owed her more than $4,000 in arrears. I started working again so she took me back to court to get more money now I currently give her $200 a month plus $100 in arrears.
Just recently I remember about the account we open for my son 4yrs ago.
I went to the bank to see if I could deposite some money in his account, and the account had been closed for more than a year!
I asked BM and she said she withdrew all the money and closed the account!
She said she took the money around the time I stopped paying her child support.
So my question is, is there anything I could do?
I'm paying her back for what I owe her so I think its only fair that she pays back my son his money. Or some how get it deducted for the arrears. I feel like shes basically double dipping. She took my sons money and now shes taking mine.
Is there anything I could do or is it hopeless?

[MixedBag]

Pick and choose your battles...

It really depends on HOW the account was set up.

Many many years ago, EX#1 and I had accounts set up for our two girls.....HE cleaned them out.

I found out and complained through my solicitor which got me no where -- yes, solicitor (England at the time).

SO....I let it lie...

BUT later, got angry about it again.

So I started working with the bank.  The account was set up as an AND vs. an OR.  AND means that he AND I had to sign to close the account or to do anything. 

Well, his mother went in and signed to have the accounts closed.  The lady at the bank actually said to me "HE said it's been invested for the girls, so what's your problem?"  I said "YOU, BANK had no authority to close the account because you didn't get MY signature."  The bank stayed stubborn.

SO, I wrote the "Banking Commissioner" for the State of XX, and in the end, the bank gave me 50% of the balance of both accounts plus interest.  The bank was wrong -- and never ever apologized, but I got my money from them.  And I have NO CLUE if they went after EX#1.  He never witched at me about it and I never asked.

SO....was the account set up as an AND -- and if so, work your issue through the California State Banking Commissioner.

If the account was set up as an OR -- between you and her -- then she was NOT breaking any law.

It doesn't matter WHO put the money into the account.

pick and choose....and don't do this again.

[bloom6372]

If you want to save money for your son, put it in an account in YOUR name only (or do a parent account where only YOU are able to access it). We actually had to make sure that my DH's ex didn't get access to my SD's account by putting ME as the adult on the account (she has his SSN # for SD's insurance, plus she knows his DOB, Mother's maiden name, etc, so she could easily act as if she were his wife--especially if she had a copy of their marriage cert.. We actually wouldn't put it past her). If you open an account for your son now, make sure that YOU are the only one able to access it. Honestly, I don't know if banks do this, but you could always ask to have a note on the account so that any tellers would know not to talk to her (specify her name).

Don't expect her to pay you back for it... It was money meant for your son, and she took it when there was an issue with CS payments coming in. Since you both had access to the account, then she won't be forced to pay you back. But, you can go through the bank and see if THEY should have to reimburse you for closing the account without your permission. A lot of banks require all people on the account to be there to sign off on the closure of an account.

[ocean]

I agree with other two... maybe once you are caught up she can start another account for him but she does not have to. Start a new account by your house with only your name OR buy savings bonds every so often and put them away. Do not tell ex. Then you can do with it as you see fit. If child needs something, car, college, wedding,...you will be able to choose.

If you have extra money though, send it to child support and catch up. If you are not caught up by the summer they start sending you letters about taking your tax refund for NEXT year and things get ugly. (probably did it this year too?). Then you can start paying the child support and have the extra in your paycheck each week.