HELP!! What if parent receiving support is involuntarily underemployed??
I need some advice!! The court just lowered my husband's support order substantially because his ex has been making a lot more than she told him she was. She is always trying to get more money out of him as well as the government and when the court lowered the support order FINALLY because it was deemed unfair she had a tantrum and has now informed my husband that she "would be dropping to part-time at work soon to go back to school, so the financial information will have to be re-evaluated." She has been in school for a couple years now and has never had a schedule issue when it came to work or child care. She is blatantly doing this out of spite to try to get the support order raised again. What can WE do? The law always seems to make all sorts of rules to protect the parent receiving support but not for the parent paying the support! Any advice? Anyone been in this situation?
they won't review it again
they won't review it again for two years. she'll adjust to the new amount by then.
They'll review it if there's
They'll review it if there's a significant change in income. It would have to be 20% or $70 more than the current basic support which it would fall under if she dropped to part time... And as much as I would hope they would take into account that this is an obvious ploy to get more money and to be spiteful, I'm not sure that it will matter because she's the mom and the one receiving support. Now if my husband drops to part-time for the same reasons he would be stuck with "potential income" and would have to pay just as much anyway. The system is so messed up it makes me sick. I just don't want her to get away with it this time...
Our BM tried to pull the same
Our BM tried to pull the same garbage. It really depends on your state laws, but for us, she quit her job, and provided no proof that 1) There was a need for a change, that the kids were suffering and 2) That her unemployment was out of her hands (which it was not).
Well she's going to claim it
Well she's going to claim it was so she could "go back to school"...except she's already been in school for a couple years without an issue, so she can't really say she's going "back" to school. But I doubt the court will require much proof if someone claims they had to drop part time to "better themselves", you know?
Courts require details and
Courts require details and proof. If she isn't within the proper timeline of the law, there would have to be extenuating circumstances to change child support. The good news is there are so many cases to base an argument on, if you have a good lawyer, chances are you could get it thrown out. Your SO is not responsible to finance his ex's education, which is in essence what she's demanding. She has to prove how the children's lives are affected by the lack of income.
And what I'd also suggest is keep records of EVERYTHING you buy for the kids. Our BM doesn't get much, but that's because she's not expected to pay for anything for them. DH pays for 100% of their needs, and he doesn't use her as a middle man (which is good, b/c she confiscated vacation money he gave the kids to pay for her gas one year...she does crap like that...)
If her loss of income is found to be not her fault, then the courts might be more forgiving, but given the fact that she's been matriculated...is she going full time now as opposed to part time? When she made this decision, did she have any financial plan BEYOND demanding more child support? She'd have to provide financial records to prove everything she's claiming if she wants the order changed, especially if it was just established. I'd go to a lawyer, but I don't think you have much to worry about.
Research, provide
Research, provide documentaton of under employment, when your SO goes to court for a CS revision provide the information and ask for an income ot be imputed for the voluntarily under employed CP.
Since there has been a recent CS review most states do not allow for another CS review for 2-3 years unless there is a significant change of circumstance. Check your state rules to verify the timing between CS reviews.
Voluntarily changing your work schedule to go back to school is not a qualifying change of circumstance IMHO. Check your state regs to determine what qualifies.
We went through the whole imputed income thing when the Sperm Idiot ran from the constable when he was being served with a CS modification hearing notification. Since he ran and the DA could not hunt him down we were asked to provide information on the Sperm Idiots work and income. The information we provided (DickHeads state plumbers license, hourly rate distribution charts for his county of residence, video proof of him accepting under the table cash payments from plumbing customers, proof that his 3 younger out of wedlock spawn were living with Sperm Grandhag and Sperm Granpa instead of with the Sperm Idiot, proof that he was living rent free in his parent's rental property, CSE office records showing his CS was paid by Sperm GrandHag, etc....) resulted in an imputed income for DickHead and CS modification raising his CS by 600%. We also requested direct payroll withholding of CS. }:) }:) }:)
He ran screaming to schedule a new CS review when he got his first $ZERO pay check. Ultimately his CS was set at a 300% increase above what it was originally plus another 20% for five years to pay the arrears on the year+ of 600% CS award because he ran from the constable.
Document, document, document and you can control this effectively since this is nothing more than a manipualtion by BM.
Good luck.
Thank you for some great
Thank you for some great suggestions! I'm not sure if she's going from part time to full time now. Just know she's been in school this whole time and right after her CS was lowered she announced that she would be dropping to part time. This crazy BM has drug him in and out of court like 4 times in the last 2 years. 2 of the motions she ended up dropping. When she tried to get more child care support from him (even going as far as making up fake documents)it was dismissed. She is constantly using my SS as a pawn to hurt his father which makes me sick. And we've already shown the court that the support she had been getting wasn't being spent on the child. She spent it on renting horses, buying a new car and getting lots of plastic surgery! Still the court did not seem to be fazed by that. Eventually going through the child support office, they reduced the support because she was making 87% more than she had been when the first order was established in 2011. She's a master manipulator and is really good at playing a victim in court and everywhere else. So now that she's trying this particular stunt, I want to make sure she doesn't get what she wants. My husband was thinking about dropping to part time also and going to school so when he gets dragged back into court to modify support, he can make the same claim she can "I dropped to part time so I can go back to school and better myself" blah blah blah. Think that would backfire?
Honestly, I'd invest in a
Honestly, I'd invest in a phone recording system, and just let her dig her own whole of "I'm gonna claim blah blah blah so the courts come after you.." and use it against her. I wouldn't do anything by way of playing her own game against her. Just do what you're supposed to, and record absolutely everything. People who are this manipulative aren't difficult to record, you just have to do it. My situation, we documented EVERYTHING. I'll be letting you know next month how well it's all paid off....
But in the meantime, I can just hope it wasn't all for nothing.
Yep, this was a big part of
Yep, this was a big part of our arsenal when the Skid was young. You can get a phone line splitter at Radio Shack for a few dollars and a micro recorder for not much more. Every time caller ID shows BM save the recording.
There is nothing quite like pushing play in court when the opposition says "I never said that" or "That never happened." and exactly what they said they did not say comes out in their voice complete with ranting and shrieking. }:) }:) }:) }:)
Documentation is the foundation of controlling the opposition. We kept extensive journals of every conversation, every story the Skid told about the toxic goings on in Sperm Land, printed every email, recorded nearly every phone call, obtained copies of every arrest record or tax lien, or ....., we even hired a PI to help document and prove that the three younger also-out-of wedlock Sperm Idiot spawned half sibs (to my Skid) by 2 more baby mamas were not living with him as he claimed in court for CS purposes but were in fact living with Sperm GrandHag and Sperm Grandpa. When you can open an journal and say "on XX/XX/1999 at approximately 9PM CDT we received this call on this phone from this person and we discussed XYZ&LMNOP and the following was agreed to." while the drooling toothless morons sit there with a blank look on their face then start in with nothing but "ummm, ahhhhh, I don't remember that" or "That's not what we talked about, we talked about ...." then you flip ahead or back a few pages and say "No, that call was on XX date at yy time and we talked about zz."
It builds all kinds of credibility with the Judge and absolutely puts the opposition in to a tail spin.
Have fun.
I am trying to do that, but
I am trying to do that, but it's so friggin' EXHAUSTING trying to always think that way! To always be ready to tape, copy or constantly track everything down to conversations on the phone, etc... I started to try to keep track of most of that stuff and then I just get behind and end up forgetting to catch up! How did you find a PI? Around how much did you pay for one and how did you know when to send them out to "spy" on the parent in question? I'm afraid I would pay thousands of dollars to someone to just waste their time sitting outside waiting for her to come back from the gym or just sitting around in her house, etc...Any suggestions on how I can figure out her schedule or dig dirt on her family or whatever? We haven't gotten very lucky with internet searches and she's good at keeping her FB and other website information private so we can't seem to directly find anything incriminating. We just have the things my SS has said, but that can be taken with a grain of salt as he is 7 years old. *Sigh*
Husband can tell her that if
Husband can tell her that if she does so he'll be subpoenaing her employer to testify that she voluntarily reduced her work hours and won't her employer be so happy? So happy s/he may not need a part timer any more especially one who has a vendetta going against a ex-husband (who may turn into our next work place serial killer for all her employer knows).
Of course her "professional student" status (one who stays in school when its convenient to keep from working) can be proved by subpoenaing in her student records. Looking at her grades may be embarrassing for her also. He'll mention that.
Her BFF can be brought in for a deposition at the lawyers office as likely as not the BM has made the same statement to her. If BFF confirms that she'll be subpoenaed in also.
Did she put that in writing? Email perhaps? Of course that'll be brought to light.
We have kind of a common
We have kind of a common issue. My husbands exwife (sorry, I dont know all the acronyms, I just joined the group) is driving us beserk. When they first got divorced, their income was fairly close. She wanted more money then she was going to get, so she claimed child care. Hubby had to pay an additional $400 per month for 2 1/2 years. Last year, they went back to mediation. Custody was now adjusted to 50/50, and because we now had proof of the child care costs being made up, her attorney told her that she could end up having to pay over $12K back. She now came into mediation saying she wanted ZERO for child support in order to avoid the entire lie that she had created. They also agreed at that time that each would cover 50% of any activies/medical/school. In the past 14 months since that agreement was reached, she has paid zero, while we have paid over $2000 in therapy and sports activities. We recently found out that she left her good paying job and accepted a bank teller position making about $20K less per year. Last week we emailed her that their son wanted to play a sport and my husband was going to coach. Her half was $100. Her first email was that she would LOVE for him to play with his friends, but at this time, due to her new lower paying job, she cannot afford the expense. She asked for us to give her options. The option we sent back was to allow her to make payments in the amount of whatever worked for her. Well, either she didn't like that we didnt ignore her 50%, or she was looking for any way to get back to court now that she is making less money - the threat email came back to us saying that he could play in her town (son wants to play where dad will coach) for less money, and since they cannot reach a decision on this (she never told us she disagreed, only told us she couldnt afford it now, so we gave her an option that she asked for), that she would have no ohoice but to go back to court to ammend the child support order. This all being said -- can she voluntarily accept a lower paying job after agreeing to zero child support and then come back `14 months later to have that support ammended to get child support because she took a lower paying job? We live in CO....