Long Distance Court Support Issues

[Gibbler]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? NM

I have been divorced for almost four years, was married for twenty w/2 now grown children. My divorce support,ie maintainance and property division were a complete SNAFU. Took 3 1/2 years to get my part of the property division from my ex. Now that I have finally been paid, and have moved from IL to a new home, my ex's lawyer served me with papers that ex is now wanting a large some of the money back he was court ordered to pay me during the time I was suppose to have had my property division money ( I have heart failure and was unable to work for several years). Apparently in the MANY times the divorce settlement was modified (funny thought once you painstakingly hashed out a settlement, that was it, haha ) there is a clause in there saying he had a right to petition the court for some of the money back.
My question is, how do I take care of this long distance? My attorney just sent me a letter saying he petitioned the court to be dismissed from the case and his request was granted. I represented myself one other time during this mess, but was still living in IL. My ex's attorney is an absolute scam man. He has already been censured once for lying to a client (during the time my ex had retained him) so I dont feel comfortable just trying to send him registered letters to hash this out. Ex will NOT talk to me without his attorney. So how do I file things in court from over 1500 miles away? I cant afford to go back to IL time and again for unending court dates, not to mention health problems that will not allow me to travel endlessly. Nor can I afford to just "park it" in IL till this is now all done with. These things (obviously from experience) take forever to get thru the courts.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? NM

I have been divorced for almost four years, was married for twenty w/2 now grown children. My divorce support,ie maintainance and property division were a complete SNAFU. Took 3 1/2 years to get my part of the property division from my ex. Now that I have finally been paid, and have moved from IL to a new home, my ex's lawyer served me with papers that ex is now wanting a large some of the money back he was court ordered to pay me during the time I was suppose to have had my property division money ( I have heart failure and was unable to work for several years). Apparently in the MANY times the divorce settlement was modified (funny thought once you painstakingly hashed out a settlement, that was it, haha ) there is a clause in there saying he had a right to petition the court for some of the money back.
My question is, how do I take care of this long distance? My attorney just sent me a letter saying he petitioned the court to be dismissed from the case and his request was granted. I represented myself one other time during this mess, but was still living in IL. My ex's attorney is an absolute scam man. He has already been censured once for lying to a client (during the time my ex had retained him) so I dont feel comfortable just trying to send him registered letters to hash this out. Ex will NOT talk to me without his attorney. So how do I file things in court from over 1500 miles away? I cant afford to go back to IL time and again for unending court dates, not to mention health problems that will not allow me to travel endlessly. Nor can I afford to just "park it" in IL till this is now all done with. These things (obviously from experience) take forever to get thru the courts.

You really need to hire yourself another attorney. It would really be too difficult to handle this yourself. If you are represented by counsel, then its likely that you could appear telephonically for any hearings.

I also wouldn't agree to give him back any of the money unless a judge actually orders you to do so.

 

[Gibbler]

NM

Thanks for your response. If I do get another lawyer, do I get one here in NM, or do I have to have someone from IL? From what I have read before, it seems that I would have to have someone who can practice in IL. But I am a NM resident, so dont know how to do this.
I dont plan on giving one cent back to ex. Took me years and much time,money and grief to get what was mine in the first place. According to what ex's attorney originally had me served with, he wants to put a lein on my house, from what I gather (papers say something about attatchment- I assumed that either meant a lein on my house, or garnishment of my wages if I get a job out here, am currently unemployed).
The updated problem is (just got a letter from my now former attorney) that the court date for this repayment issue and my attorney asking to remove himself from the case were set for the same day. I sent my (then) attorney a letter explaining what I needed him to show in court. All I got back from him was a letter saying he is no longer my counsel, and cannot advise me on anything.
So this leaves me in a catch 22. I did not ignore the court date(I couldnt physically be there but did contact my attorney saying I could not be there but "here is my response"). The letter my former attorney sent me makes no mention of anything else. So I dont know if he even brought up the fact I did respond to the issues at hand. Even asked my "former" attorney if he could please let me know where to file the papers to take this over myself if he was granted permission to leave the case. He did not respond to that either. So now I'm sitting here in a panick, wondering if the judge thinks I just blew off the entire thing and will let my ex put a lein or something on my house. Can it be done that easily? Since my attorney withdrew the same day as the repayment issue, doesnt the court have to give me time to find another lawyer, or at least time to respond myself? Who knows, maybe he didnt even mention I contacted him about this case as he wanted out of this so bad. What a mess!!!!
Also, from having had another lawyer for this case, when she was fired by me she still had to have a signed court order from the judge letting her be dismissed from the case. The attorney I am referring to in this post did NOT sent me any court papers saying he was granted permission to leave this case (I did not fire him, this is what he wanted). Doesnt he have to have that paperwork and send it to me? The last attorney did.
Do I have a right to all the files from this last attorney?

 

[LdiJ]

You need an IL attorney, like yesterday. Click on the Find Lawyers feature above and look for one.