child support clarification

[spieslikeus]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Hello all. I will try to keep this brief. My husband and his ex went back to court on Feb. 25 to file for a motion of clarification. The ex wife wanted more child support than the judge ordered in the original divorce decree so when she signed the divorce papers, she crossed through the amount ordered and wrote in her own amount. Yes, you read that correctly. She x'd through it and wrote in a different amount above it. Husband didn't see this until papers were mailed to him after divorce was granted. Moving on, she never changed his wage witholding order because she never had that in her possession since she didn't have to sign it. He turned it into his employer and they witheld original amount. She was very upset about this and turned entire case over to the Attorney General's office and they honored her handwritten amount and that put my husband in arrears. No matter what we did to try and reason with AG's office, they would not change it and finally told us the only way it would be changed would be for us to hire an attorney to get it clarified. Time went on so that we could save for the attorney and husband got further behind in arrears. Finally went to court, judge says it should have been the original amount all along. Just our luck, our attorney is disbarred for drug abuse (we have the best luck) before the paperwork is completed. The Ag's office still has a wage witholding for 200 per month more than he is supposed to pay and I am wondering if we can't complete this ourselves. The attorney we were referred to wants 1000 to finish the case and we just don't have it. The order hasn't been filed with the court because our former attorney was disbarred before it was completed and until we have the order, AG's office won't change anything. HELP PLEASE!!! TIA

 

[Inquiry123]

Go in person...be nice.

Has your husband gone to the TX AG's local office in person with a copy of the original decree? The AG's offices have a staff att'y who will review circumstances such as you describe. Inform the AG's office that you DO NOT CURRENTLY have an attorney and request to meet with your case worker and the AG's att'y to discuss your case. They can stop the wage withholding increase as fast as they started it (and they will if they believe you.) Be VERY courteous and patient...they've got you over a barrel and won't lift a finger to help you if you don't -- even if you're right. The staff att'y will know that something is not right about a handwritten correction to your DD.

My ex took a partial copy of our DD to the AG's office to assert that she was not receiving the correct amount of support. The next day my employer let me know that my wages were going to be attached! It took a couple of phone calls and a fax of my entire DD to help the AG's office understand ALL of the facts -- they stopped the wage withholding before it began! It's frustrating that they didn't want to hear both sides of the story before they took action.

If your att'y was in a firm, ask that someone in the firm be assigned to file the case for you. If not, find a paralegal (about $60/hour) to process the paperwork and get it filed. Or, go to the court clerk's office and see if they can assist you with filing the appropriate ppwk.

Once this is done, make sure the AG's office reflects an OVERPAYMENT on your payment history and lowers the withholding amount until you are back to even. Good luck.

 

[CaliCat]

Isn't it a felony to alter an official document like that?

And changes are supposed to be initialed by all parties involved, I believe.

 

[spieslikeus]

Thank you very much for responding. No, my husband has never actually set foot in the AG's office. It is all very frustrating because we did fax a copy of the DD to them and although they know the amount was altered (they acknowledged so much in a recorded phone call), they informed him the only way it would be changed is if he hired an attorney to take it back to court and have it clarified. Well, as I stated in OP we did that, and now the attorney filing the motion for us is history. And he was disbarred before filing appropriate paperwork to file the order. So we have the docket sheet (a copy) which shows that the judge agrees that the original amount should have been paid all along, and that's all that we have. This came to us courtesy of the district clerk's office along with the "We cannot offer legal advice" speech. I had not thought of the paralegal idea, where would one find one? Are they listed with attorneys? Oh, and as far as sitting down with our caseworker to discuss the case, she has never so much as returned a phone call. The only time we have ever heard from her is when she sent a nasty letter saying we had 30 days to come up with total arrears or legal action would be taken. We called around to some different attorney's yesterday and all we heard is " This is the AG's office mistake, they should be helping you." I agree, but getting someone from that office to help you is near impossible.

 

[spieslikeus]

Oh, I forgot about the comment regarding the felony. Yes, according to our (former) attorney it was a felony because neither party initialed the change. However, I'm sure nothing is going to happen to her. I know that she was questioned by someone (she says it was the police department, but she's ignorant and anyone who drives a car with flashing lights is from the police department) and the reason I know that is because as soon as they left her house, she called over here cussing and crying that my husband "sicked (sp?) the law on her!" Stupid. Anyway, she admitted in court that she changed it, but she claims my husband agreed to the change. Because everyone knows if you pay child support, you're just dying to pay a little bit more when someone asks. Who would have agreed to this? Not him.

 

[julbug66]

can you file a "motion to modify child support"? you usually don't need a lawyer to file that. if the situation as far as visitation and income is still the same, the amount of CS ordered should be the same as it was originally. there has got to be some legal channels you can take to end this. what this woman did was illegal and the fact that the AG is honoring it instead of locking her up is outrageous. that woman has a lot of frickin nerve to change a court document like that. i'm sure that the judge isn't too happy. this sounds like something my husband's ex would try to do, and miraculously get away with, like this crazy lady.

have you sent a copy of the judge's decree saying "no, this is what i originally ordered and i'm sticking to it" to the AG? i highly doubt they cant just override a judge like that.

good luck, and remember, you're not the only one fighting bitter exes.

 

[spieslikeus]

Julbugg I almost cried when I read your post. This whole issue has become such a pink elephant with my husband and myself. It's just always there. And of course there are always money fights. But anyway, yes we COULD do the support modification thing but then he would still owe the arrears which is quickly approaching 4000.00. This is what happens when the employer can only withold 50% of earnings and you don't make enough to cover what they are trying to take out. With the clarification, our former attorney told us, the judge's order would be retroactive from the beginning, meaning AG's office would have to issue a credit for overpayment of child support. Yes, we have faxed our caseworker a copy of the docket sheet but of course, have heard nothing from her. I have phoned her 12 times since last Tues., and have left a message on her voicemail each time. I have called and asked to speak to anyone else who can help me, I am told that I will have to speak to my caseworker. I am saying "my" like it is my case. It is actually my husband's case, it just feels like it is mine. Oh and get this, after the judge made her ruling, my husband had not even made it home from the courthouse and ex was already calling and threatening "this is not over you M***** F*****! You'll regret the day you started this!" Two days later, she had braces put on the oldest and sent us the bill. The irony of it is, she doesn't have the money for the braces either, and now can't make her half of the payments. So now she's bitter about that.

 

[spieslikeus]

So does anyone know if we can finish this ourselves? If so, how do we go about doing so? Are there forms that we can download to present to the judge for his signature? Please help.

 

[Inquiry123]

Get a drink for that elephant!

spies --

Please accept my post in the spirit in which it is intended...just trying to help. At the risk of sounding abrasive, let me touch on a few "pink elephant" items.

This is a job for your husband. He's got to do it. NOBODY at the AG's office wants to hear squat from you. The case that the AG is dealing with is soley between your husband and his ex. They DO NOT want to hear from you. The more YOU call, the more they will ignore YOU. YOU need to stop calling. If your husband is too irate, afraid, lazy, etc. to GO TO the AG's office to make an appointment to meet with his case worker and the staff att'y, then YOU'RE spinning your wheels and I'm wasting my breath. Your husband can get this resolved. But HE has to do it. His ex got in her car and went to the AG's office (she didn't do it by phone) and he's got to GO IN, too. Do not call to try and make an appointment...go in (him not you.)

Make sure he tells his case worker that HE IS NOT CURRENTLY REPRESENTED BY AN ATTORNEY. They will not work directly with him if he is or threatens to (or threatens anything for that matter.) If neither party is represented by an attorney, the AG has a responsibility to work for BOTH parties. If your husband can be ORGANIZED, calm and collected, the case worker will help to resolve his issue. He shouldn't go rambling on about the ex's phone threatening phone calls and braces for the kid -- they don't want to hear it. It is just as much the ex's responsibility to substantiate that the increase was ordered as it is your husband's responsibility to substantiate that a fraud is being committed. If the AG's office agrees that further investigation is needed, they can freeze or reverse the arrears and order a hearing for the review of your case. This is the most expedient way to immediately lower the amount of support that the AG's office is withholding.

Step two. You have to get the modification order filed. Do a google.com search for "paralegal services YOURCITY" or look in the phone book under paralegal services. $60/$70 an hour. Or, I cannot imagine that if you GO IN to a few legal offices you couldn't find a ham-n-egger att'y in your town to whip this out for $300 cash. Take the cash get it done.
Or, do it yourself (if you think you can.) The court clerk will not give you legal advice but they will give you the correct forms to complete and accept your fee. Now, get goin'! (him not you!)

 

[spieslikeus]

123 Thank you for your help.

 

[spieslikeus]

123 on your post for step two, you say he's got to get the modification order filed...are you referring to the clarification order that we've already begun? Or are you suggesting that along with trying to get the clarification finished, we also do a modification? TIA

 

[Inquiry123]

Do one, or the other...

Finish processing the Clarification Order. If you already had a hearing for the Clarification Order to establish that the hand-written 'adjustment' was inproper and the judge gave his ruling, you're almost done. Once that ruling is filed, you're home-free.

I don't have experience with that process...start with the clerk of the court, then paralegal, then an att'y if $ is tight as you mentioned.

A request for another Clarification Order or request for Modification would only be necessary if the above were not possible.

Stick it to 'er! I can just imagine the look on her face when the AG's office tells her, "No check this month!"

 

[spieslikeus]

I really appreciate your help. We live in a different county than the one where the hearings, etc. are all taking place. Since I was getting nowhere with that county's clerks, yesterday I called my county clerk (in the county where I live) and just gave them a hypothetical. Well, I found out that there are no forms that I can get to just "do this myself". However, she suggested taking everything back to the attorney whom we were referred to and just explaining to him that all we want is to finish up this clarification. She says it's only one piece of paper that he needs to draw up, she can't see him wanting to charge outrageous money since he's not having to actually file a motion or anything like that. I didn't actually meet with this attorney, husband did, and I get the impression that the figure he gave us is for him to handle entire case, including ex's BS counter claim of abuse. ?? None of which was ever heard of or spoken of until her ass was getting drug back to court. Annnyyywway... She also told me that if it came right down to it, husband should park his ass in the AG's office until anyone would listen to him. So he is taking the day off Monday to do just that....it's the soonest he could take off. She also informed me that our former attorney has not been disbarred, he has been hospitalized. I felt like a fool, but of course it's not the first time. My husband's ex told us that he had been disbarred, info she SAID she had received from her attorney. Why I would have trusted such an unreliable source is just idiocy on my part. Again, I appreciate your help, and I'm sure I'll be back to pester some more.