Upward modification

[dad_of_one]

What is the name of your state? Oregon

So today I received a certified letter in the mail from my ex (custodial parent/mom) of my son stating that I need to pay the $3,000 I owe in back child support in one week or she is taking me to court for contempt of the child support order. The reason why I owe so much is that back in March of this year we had an upward modification that was back dated to October of 2006.

My job has been a little slow getting the new ordered amount taken out my pay check so the arrears just keeps going up and up. My job is paying the old amount of $400 instead of the new amount still. I went from paying $400 to $1000 for one child due to my child now being in daycare and I make more money now. I have received letters from CSE stating that our case now qualifies for federal offset and that my passport may be revoked. CSE has also sent out our case to credit repotng agencies as well. When I looked again at all the paper work the new order is for the amount of $920 but they are increasing it to $1104 for all the back owed child support due to the upward modification.

My question is, Do I have to comply with the letter the CP sent to me? I thought since I will be (as soon as my job gets on the ball with the new order) be paying $1104 to compensate for all the back owed child support that the arrears would just be handled that way. Should I pay the whole balance owed off now instead? Thanks!

 

[bunney76]

Back child support

According to st of mo, tx and ks which I would assume most states way of thinking is even if cs is taken from your payroll it is still your responsibilty to be sure to pay the full amount of cs on time. In the state of Texas and Kansas we my ex went to court over back support because his employer was taking so long to garnish his paycheck it was still his responsibility to make any payments that was not deducted from his paycheck. What we did do in order to have is employer take the cs out of his paycheck quicker was we obtained a copy of the order a took it to his employer. As for the cp's letter she can take you to court for contempt but if you make the current payment and send extra toward the back payments then you are making the effort to correct the mistake.

 

[Just Blue]

According to st of mo, tx and ks which I would assume most states way of thinking is even if cs is taken from your payroll it is still your responsibilty to be sure to pay the full amount of cs on time. In the state of Texas and Kansas we my ex went to court over back support because his employer was taking so long to garnish his paycheck it was still his responsibility to make any payments that was not deducted from his paycheck. What we did do in order to have is employer take the cs out of his paycheck quicker was we obtained a copy of the order a took it to his employer. As for the cp's letter she can take you to court for contempt but if you make the current payment and send extra toward the back payments then you are making the effort to correct the mistake.

Considering that the OP is in OREGON, and NOT in Missouri, Texas or Kansas your advice is worthless....please do not post unless your response is relevant to the STATE IN QUESTION!

 

[Gracie3787]

What is the name of your state? Oregon

So today I received a certified letter in the mail from my ex (custodial parent/mom) of my son stating that I need to pay the $3,000 I owe in back child support in one week or she is taking me to court for contempt of the child support order. The reason why I owe so much is that back in March of this year we had an upward modification that was back dated to October of 2006.

My job has been a little slow getting the new ordered amount taken out my pay check so the arrears just keeps going up and up. My job is paying the old amount of $400 instead of the new amount still. I went from paying $400 to $1000 for one child due to my child now being in daycare and I make more money now. I have received letters from CSE stating that our case now qualifies for federal offset and that my passport may be revoked. CSE has also sent out our case to credit repotng agencies as well. When I looked again at all the paper work the new order is for the amount of $920 but they are increasing it to $1104 for all the back owed child support due to the upward modification.

My question is, Do I have to comply with the letter the CP sent to me? I thought since I will be (as soon as my job gets on the ball with the new order) be paying $1104 to compensate for all the back owed child support that the arrears would just be handled that way. Should I pay the whole balance owed off now instead? Thanks!

No, you do not have to comply with any "letter" the CP sends you. You DO have to comply with a COURT ORDER. Apparently the CSE agency is already setting it up so that extra will be garnished for the retro amount, so it's extremely doubtful that you would be found in contempt even if ex tried to go to court. You can explain to your ex that the CSE agency is already taking care of the problem and that she should consult with them if she is unhappy about thier arrangements.

If you have the cash available to pay the retro amount in one lump sum, it can be beneficial to do so, however, you'll have to make sure that the CSE agency immediatley stops the garnishment of extra towards retro.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Oregon

So today I received a certified letter in the mail from my ex (custodial parent/mom) of my son stating that I need to pay the $3,000 I owe in back child support in one week or she is taking me to court for contempt of the child support order. The reason why I owe so much is that back in March of this year we had an upward modification that was back dated to October of 2006.

My job has been a little slow getting the new ordered amount taken out my pay check so the arrears just keeps going up and up. My job is paying the old amount of $400 instead of the new amount still. I went from paying $400 to $1000 for one child due to my child now being in daycare and I make more money now. I have received letters from CSE stating that our case now qualifies for federal offset and that my passport may be revoked. CSE has also sent out our case to credit repotng agencies as well. When I looked again at all the paper work the new order is for the amount of $920 but they are increasing it to $1104 for all the back owed child support due to the upward modification.

My question is, Do I have to comply with the letter the CP sent to me? I thought since I will be (as soon as my job gets on the ball with the new order) be paying $1104 to compensate for all the back owed child support that the arrears would just be handled that way. Should I pay the whole balance owed off now instead? Thanks!

So your job has been slow getting things going? Did that stop you from paying the remainder of the court ordered support directly to the CSE?

See the thing is that you were ordered to pay a specific amount. You aren't off the hook just because it was ordered that it come from your pay and your job is taking their own sweet time to get it done.

It certainly would make you life easier if you pay off the balance due.

 

[CourtClerk]

So your job has been slow getting things going? Did that stop you from paying the remainder of the court ordered support directly to the CSE?

Well this is the question that I was going to ask because I don't know of a CSE anywhere that won't take your money directly from you.

But no, you don't have to respond to the letter, but if I were you, if you notice that the garnishment is even a dollar short, you had better begin sending that difference to CSE yourself. And yes, while you're in arrears, you are subject to all kinds of things happening to you including your taxes being attached, license suspended, passport revoked among other things.