Settling arrears in lump sum?

[COFJ55]

Hello-
I have not been on this site for almost 18 months now and I won't go into extreme detail about my case but I have a pretty simple question.

Here are the basics:
I found out that I unknowingly fathered a child 12 years ago during a VERY brief relationship. I am in Colorado and the mother/daughter are in Washington. The court in my jurisdiction, in the interest of her state, awarded arrears of $11,000 and current support of $500 each month. The judge thought the whole case was bullsh#t, as did the state appointed attorney, but went with "minimum" award for the mother.

Instantly, I had to get a second job (now working 70 hours each week) in order to keep my family from having to suffer, and $500 + $100 (arrears) was garnished from my paycheck. During the refinance of our home, obviously in an effort to cut mortgage payment and make this easier, we found out that there is a lien against the home for the arrears so we can not refinance.

I want to offer the mother a lump sum cash settlement of $5500 to settle the arrears and remove the lien. The $5500 is money that I will get if I sell my car and is the maximum I can pay her.

1) Is there a form letter that I can find in order to get the legal mumbo jumbo correct to make this happen?

2) And secondly, should I address this matter with the mother, my state's CPS officer or her state's CPS office?

Thanks for any help in this matter.

[socrateaser]

>1) Is there a form letter that I can find in order to get the
>legal mumbo jumbo correct to make this happen?

First, are you aware that the court can't grant arrears prior to the date of filing of the petition? How long ago did she file her case?

Second, I'm fairly certain that if you can reach a settlement on an amount for the arrears, that a lender would accept that agreement and refi your house as long as the money to extinguish the lien was paid from the proceeds.

So, there's really no need to sell your car.


>2) And secondly, should I address this matter with the mother,
>my state's CPS officer or her state's CPS office?

Who is the judgment creditor on the judgment of arrears? That's who you must negotiate with.

[COFJ55]

Socrateaser wrote:
First, are you aware that the court can't grant arrears prior to the date of filing of the petition?

Socrateaser, I don't want to question you but I'm going to on this one.  

1) Can you point me to this Federal law somewhere on the internet?

Everything that I found when researching for my case said that most states, Washington included, have a 5 year maximum on arrears.  Colorado is able to collect arrears back to the birth of the child.  Please correct me if I'm wrong on this matter.