child support question after modification

[sytech]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I gained custody of my Son on June 19th. We agreed that his Mother didn't have to pay any child support. I have a temporary agreement signed by her, Me, My lawyer and judge with all the terms of the modification. I have yet to receive the final order. I was told that until this was signed my child support was still going to be taken out of my pay. I was told this by AG. I have left that job to work for myself now. I was told when I went to court that that order went was as good as the final order. Am I still to pay child support even if the child is with me until the final order is received and sent to AG? I just need to know if I dont pay will I incurr arrears? I do have the temp order that says no child support from either partys. What should I do? I have been trying to contact my lawyer but she has been in court all last week. I keep on asking for the final order and she tells me it has not been signed. How long does it usually take for stuff like that to happen? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I gained custody of my Son on June 19th. We agreed that his Mother didn't have to pay any child support. I have a temporary agreement signed by her, Me, My lawyer and judge with all the terms of the modification. I have yet to receive the final order. I was told that until this was signed my child support was still going to be taken out of my pay. I was told this by AG. I have left that job to work for myself now. I was told when I went to court that that order went was as good as the final order. Am I still to pay child support even if the child is with me until the final order is received and sent to AG? I just need to know if I dont pay will I incurr arrears? I do have the temp order that says no child support from either partys. What should I do? I have been trying to contact my lawyer but she has been in court all last week. I keep on asking for the final order and she tells me it has not been signed. How long does it usually take for stuff like that to happen? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The temporary order should be as a good as a final order. I am confused as to why the AG would be attempting to continue to collect child support from you.

 

[sytech]

I dont know

The order went into effect immediatly (June 19th) but, they have continued to take my money. I called my job to have them stop taking it out of my paycheck but they said AG had to send them something stating this and that has not been done. The temp order is a hand written one AG said it could not be accepted because of rule 11. I dont know what this is. We are still waiting on the final order and our lawyer doesn't know why its taking so long. Any suggestions?

 

[TheGeekess]

Have your lawyer retype the order and present it to the judge for his signature. Judges are human and they've been known to lose things.

 

[sytech]

order is signed another question

Well, the judge has finally signed the order. I received a letter from AG stating that they were reviewing our cs case on her behalf. I guess I just need to take the new order that states I now have custody. I also have another question. When we went before the judge to make our modifications I chose at that time to not take any cs from her. I originally went for custody because Son had missed so much school. As it turns out he just started the third grade and he is struggling. Is there a way that AG can order her to pay for half of tutoring in lieu of CS. Son is behind because he missed so much school and this was not because he was sick. It was because his Mom worked the late shift and would often sleep in. I dont want CS I do however feel it is only fair that she pay for half of the tutoring for him. Any advise on this issue would be great. I didn't know if I needed to start a new thread. Thanks in advance.

 

[qurice]

This is only a suggestion on how I would handle it...

What does the tutoring cost? Figure out how much the total cost will be per year, divide that by half, then by 12 (months) and there is what you agree to as CS.

The AGs office can enforce a CS order, but if you can't get mom to pay "tutoring expenses" after she agreed to it, you're on your own and have to take it to court for enforcement which may end up costing you more than her half of the tutoring costs.

 

[Isis1]

Well, the judge has finally signed the order. I received a letter from AG stating that they were reviewing our cs case on her behalf. I guess I just need to take the new order that states I now have custody. I also have another question. When we went before the judge to make our modifications I chose at that time to not take any cs from her. I originally went for custody because Son had missed so much school. As it turns out he just started the third grade and he is struggling. Is there a way that AG can order her to pay for half of tutoring in lieu of CS. Son is behind because he missed so much school and this was not because he was sick. It was because his Mom worked the late shift and would often sleep in. I dont want CS I do however feel it is only fair that she pay for half of the tutoring for him. Any advise on this issue would be great. I didn't know if I needed to start a new thread. Thanks in advance.

have you looked into school tutoring? church tutoring? YMCA tutoring? not all tutoring has to be costly.

 

[garrula lingua]

Qurice's advice is excellent.

Regarding your temp & final orders: did your attys serve the AG and was the AG present for the temp & final hearings ?
If not, and Mom had an open case with the AG, then the order can be voided by the AG.

That may be why they are seeking a 'review'. The AG has to sign off on any orders where they are involved in the case (I believe they usually try to keep the family law order & will just adjust their records, as long as Mom never assigned the money as Medicaid or Welfare/Tanf funds she received - was Mom on Welfare ?).

Your atty should have handled everything with the AG ...
When you go to AG for review, take your income information, health insurance (for child) info and a copy of the prior orders. You can ask the AG to do a child support order as Qurice recommended (tho' there isn't a change of circumstances/3 yrs since your last order... You may have to 'eat' the tutoring expense.)

 

[sytech]

Thanks for the advice

Thanks a lot for all the advice. We actually agreed to no child support from either party. It was not written in the order that she have to pay any tutoring. School has been back in for two weeks and I have been seeing how he struggles with the basic stuff he should already know. I actually have scheduled a conference with his teacher for this coming week to talk about what we could do. Among my concerns I really believe our son may be dyslexic (hope I spelled that right). If he is, then he is really going to need the tutoring. I looked on the schools web page and they had a list of approved tutors and they run about 20-25 an hour. Son is having trouble in three subjects I was told(by most of the tutors) he would need 30 minutes of tutoring in each subject twice a week.

As far as AG being at the hearing no they were not. Mom had custody until I went in to get residential custody due to medical and school concerns. Son had missed 28 days and had been tardy 25 times. She was not on welfare because she didn't qualify for it. I paid her child support for six years and she also had another child after our son with someone else and he paid support as well. Our child support prior to the mod had already been adjusted about 1 year ago. So, Maybe she was going to try to get additional money I really dont know. I wasn't making any more or less that 1 year ago.

I think I am going to do what Qurice suggested. Now as far as our modified court order it states 'Child support will not be ordered by either party'. Would I need to have that removed before starting a case with AG in the future. Or can AG try to get support from her regardless of the court order stating none is to be ordered?

 

[qurice]

From my understanding, AG should be able to open a case at any time if the CS ordered deviates from guideline; which in your case it does since none was ordered at all.

They may want you to wait until there is a change in circumstance before they will help you establish it, but if you son is diagnosed with dyslexia, that may be enough to qualify.

See if you can talk to someone there about it, several people actually. You may get different answers depending on who you talk to.

 

[sytech]

Thanks

I have an appointment with AG in two weeks and I will take the final order in. I also have a conference with Son's teacher this Friday to discuss the tutor with her. I did find a list of approved tutors for his school and the most inexpensive one is $20 an hour and he would need to be tutored for 30min in three subjects that would be $60 a week. @ 52 weeks this would be $3120 and half of that would be $1560 and this divided by 12 months is $130.

There has been a change in our household as well. I at the time I gained custody had a higher paying job. I changed jobs in order to be able to drop son off and pick him up for school. Although less money it makes it possible for me to be there for him so that I may also be involved in his school. I lost my benefits because of this and I applied for the Texas CHIP and was approved. His insurance through this program will start October 1st. My old job I worked 3pm-12am and it made it difficult to attend after school functions and even though at the time I was attending them I was missing work in order to do so. My new schedule is 8:30-2:30 and I am able to bring work home and work an additional two hours from home. But by doing this I am able to help him with homework and I am there for him to read to me every night. I am married and my wife does help out, but It is my job to do all the school stuff with him. Thats why I wanted custody and now I got it so I want to be there for him.

Thanks again to those who responded. I really appreciate the advise.

 

[sytech]

So now

Well, Son went with his Mom today for their Tuesday visit and he came back home with mail that his Mom received in my name at her home. It was two bills from June for my sons hospitalization. We were never married and I have lived in my home for four years and we have been separated for six years. I am aware that I owe half the balance but she wants me to pay the full amount. Our order states that anything not covered by the insurance we are to split. The thing is she is just now giving me these bills I asked her if we owed anything in June when our son was hospitalized and she said no and the bill that she just gave me today is a final notice and if the full amount is not paid in full it is going to collections in fact the letter was dated 9/15/08 and it states I have 10 days from the date of the letter to pay before it goes into collections. If I pay my half what can I do about her not paying hers? I do not want this to go into collections.