Help with child support laws
#22
03-22-2008, 12:42 AM
RE: Help with child support laws
A link that might help you out:
www.lawguru.com
It's an online message board/forum that covers all areas of law, including family issues like this. It's run by lawyers. Register, select the area of law you need, the state you're in, and post a question. Lawyers from your state will answer for free, and usually within a couple days. I've used this site a few times for various things, and always had a good response.
The main question you face is, is the support court-ordered or an agreement between you and your ex? If it's court-ordered, you risk trouble by altering it. If it's an agreement, the way it works is that you don't really have the right do decrease the payment, but you do have the power to do so, because without a formalized payment ordered by a judge, the courts won't touch it (I've been through this in other areas of family law).
Unfortunately as I found out as well, she doesn't have to give you an accounting of the money's uses - she can do whatever she wants with it (my ex chooses to spend it on drinking at bars and paying for a cell phone (just what a stay-at-home mom with a landline needs)). As for her threat of not allowing your daughter to come, again, is it considered joint custody and ordered that way by the court, or is it a joint agreement between the two of you? If it's court-declared joint custody and the visitation schedule is ordered by a judge, then she risks fines and/or imprisonment by keeping your daughter away. If it's verbal agreement only between you two, then she can do it and you can't really do anything about it. It's a really sh*tty law, but unfortunately that's how it works (at least here in NY).
Check that forum out - you may be surprised at what you find out.
www.lawguru.com
It's an online message board/forum that covers all areas of law, including family issues like this. It's run by lawyers. Register, select the area of law you need, the state you're in, and post a question. Lawyers from your state will answer for free, and usually within a couple days. I've used this site a few times for various things, and always had a good response.
The main question you face is, is the support court-ordered or an agreement between you and your ex? If it's court-ordered, you risk trouble by altering it. If it's an agreement, the way it works is that you don't really have the right do decrease the payment, but you do have the power to do so, because without a formalized payment ordered by a judge, the courts won't touch it (I've been through this in other areas of family law).
Unfortunately as I found out as well, she doesn't have to give you an accounting of the money's uses - she can do whatever she wants with it (my ex chooses to spend it on drinking at bars and paying for a cell phone (just what a stay-at-home mom with a landline needs)). As for her threat of not allowing your daughter to come, again, is it considered joint custody and ordered that way by the court, or is it a joint agreement between the two of you? If it's court-declared joint custody and the visitation schedule is ordered by a judge, then she risks fines and/or imprisonment by keeping your daughter away. If it's verbal agreement only between you two, then she can do it and you can't really do anything about it. It's a really sh*tty law, but unfortunately that's how it works (at least here in NY).
Check that forum out - you may be surprised at what you find out.
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