my father was once paying full child support until 4 months ago, and then reduced the amount that he was paying by 50% and my mother has no idea how to get that 50% back. is there some document through the court that he could have gotten to reduce the payment? should we have recieved a notice in the mail or a phone call? what would be the best way to go after that, and what are some of the punishments that are incurred for not paying full child support? thanks for your help.
2007-03-20 03:57:46 · 12 answers · asked by john s 3 in Family & Relationships ➔ Marriage & Divorce
In most states the process to reduce payments is to either contact the Child Support Enforcement Office and request a review or you can get forms at the local courthouse called Motion to Modify Child Support Order. In either case your mom should receive a notice that information is needed for a review or notice of a court date for a court hearing on the Motion to Modify. If the order is reviewed and modified your mom is supposed to get a copy of the order and notice of the change. If a Motion is filed and she appears in court then she will know the outcome the day of the hearing based on what the Judge decides. Your father may have on his own reduced the payment and he owes anything he did not pay. Your mother should either call the local child support office or the courthouse and request that the order be enforced. A Show Cause Order for Contempt of Court will be issued and a court date set. Your mom is supposed to receive notice of the court date to appear unless told she does not have to be there. The Court will deal with the situation and enter whatever judgement/punishment they feel necessary. Every state has a child support enforcement program. They offer services at no or very low cost to all parents. Your mom should contact them if she is not already one of their clients. I hope this information was of help to you.
2007-03-20 04:07:23 · answer #1 · answered by curious74432 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If she has court papers saying he is to pay a certain amount, lets say for arguments sake it is $100.00 a week. And he then reduces it to $50.00 a week. He cannot do this without the court granting him the right. Now if he were to have filed papers with the court granting him that right, your mother would have received papers to be in court that day. Your father would have to give legitimate reasons for reducint support, such as loss in job, reduction in wages, again this must be to no fault of his own. If for example he chose to take a job at a lower rate, they will not reduce support being that he has the opportunity, choice if you will, to make more money. If he was laid off and had to take another job at lower pay, he will be granted an adjustment. Again, however this must go through the courts. Now after all this has been said and done, your mother will need to go through the court system to state that she has not received full payment and the courts will grant her this money to the arrears meaning she will eventually get the difference in what was not paid. Unless he has one of the situations above, of which the court will then make the decision on what payment should have been. Your father does not just have the right to reduce payment at will. This is the point. Now if there are no court papers, she should still file now to the courts to have the court decide exactly what should be paid. This takes it out of their hands and allows your mother the amount that should be given regardless of what either of them wants. This is the best way to handle it. This will also ensure that she receives her payment. After the court grants the amount for support, she should go through a child support agency. Whether he is self employed or not, they do all the leg work. They keep track of payment, whether he is behind or making them every week. It is easier when she has to go to court. Good luck to you and your mother in receiving child support. Oh and in answer to your last question, consequences for not paying the ordered amount and again it has to be the amount awarded by the court, it cannot just be an amount they agreed upon, it loss of license and/or jail time. Now I understand maybe you do not want your father to do jail time and maybe you don't care, but here's what father's and kids when they are old enough need to understand. Child Support is there for the custodial parent, which in this case is your mother because you live with her, to support her children. This includes everything from buying you clothes, to paying electric. Because lets face it if you were living with both parents, his pay would still go to paying electric and other household bills. Trust me when I say the amount of child support your mother received or is receiving does not even account for half of what it costs support you and have you live with her. But I'm sure she feels as all of us mothers do, it doesn't matter, she loves you and wants you no matter. Encourage your mother to do what she needs to receive the full amount of support that she should be receiving, it is for you. I'm sorry this answer was so long, I hope you took the time to read it and I wish you and your mother nothing but the best. This is a subject that I have dealt with personally.
2007-03-20 04:23:02 · answer #2 · answered by Elvira 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Your father would have had to request an Administrative Review-your mother would definately have gotten notice because they have to compare the two incomes. If he has decided to reduce the amount on his own, he will fall further and further behind. Unfortunately until he is close to $4000 in arrears the support office won't really do anything. Your mother could file contempt charges through the court but that would be quite expensive. After so long, the support office can suspend his license and file contempt charges on their own for arrears. That is the cheaper route to go but it takes a lot longer. A lot of states automatically do a review after 3 years but your mother should still have gotten notice.
2007-03-20 05:22:22 · answer #3 · answered by stacilynn26 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your mother needs to go to her local Child Support Enforcement office and raise cain. Unless a judge agreed to lower the child support being paid, he can't just on his own start paying a reduced amount. Generally, before a judge agrees to do that, your mother should have received a court notice about this.
Also, even if he is paying a reduced amount, he still owes the money. In addition, if a person is behind on their child support, that absent parent is usually paying interest on the amount owed. In Virginia, it's 9% annually. My moron ex-brother-in-law thought that if he quit his job, the child support meter stops. WRONG! The tab on back child support keeps going up and up.
Also, if the child support gets to a certain point, the absent parent can go to jail if they don't pay up or make arrangements. That threshold (at what point the parent could go to jail) varies from state to state.
Also, if the absent parent is on Social Security disability, child support can be garnished from his check.
Bottom line, your mother needs to go Child Support Enforcement and get some answers.
2007-03-20 05:09:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
She simply takes him to court. There is no paper that he can file without her knowledge to reduce his support payments. Every change requires a hearing. During the hearing if the judge sees that his income has decreased, than the child support payment may be decreased.
There is no other way for him to just decide to reduce his payments. Your mother can also push for criminal action and your father can be arrested for non-support. This may be less likely since he is paying at least 50%.
Take care,
Troy
2007-03-20 04:27:42 · answer #5 · answered by tiuliucci 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your father would have to go to court to get his child support reduced,so in order to get the support back to where it was your mom would have to take him to court.Child support is based on his yearly income. If he went to court your mom should had been notified of the court date in order to give her the chance to go and fight it.If he didn't go to court than he probaly decided to lower it on his own. If the payments go through Family Responsabality and the support payments are in arrears than they will take steps such as taking his income refund or suspending his driver's liscence. If Family Responsability is not involved than your mom would have to get a court order reinstating payments. Good Luck.
2007-03-20 04:11:09 · answer #6 · answered by kar3eok 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Contact the attorney general's office. They will provide legal services for her to collect what she is owed. In order to reduce the payment, there would have been a court order to which your mother would have received notification. Tell her to get her money!
2007-03-20 04:29:56 · answer #7 · answered by Tangled Web 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your Mom needs to go back to court to get the judgement amount changed. He may be paying what he can afford right now. It really needs to be handled in court between your Mom and Dad.
2007-03-20 04:05:00 · answer #8 · answered by vanhammer 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Petition the court for reduction. If you fail to pay the ordered amount, you can and most likely will be jailed for non-support.
2007-03-20 04:01:53 · answer #9 · answered by Disco Mudda 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should not be asking legal questions here.
That said, a Motion to Enforce is in order. Your mother's call to her lawyer or Legal Aid (or equivalent) is appropriate. Answers posted here are not likely to be productive.
FOLLOW UP 20-Mar-07: If you are the person that gave me the thumbs-down, please have the decency to post your ID and reason.
2007-03-20 04:03:05 · answer #10 · answered by Sgt Pepper 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋