Child Support refund check ??? UPDATE post 114

[rainy~daze]

My DH pays support for his DD, she is graduating this Friday and is already 18. We sent payment for this month, but today received a refund check for more than half of what this months payment was.

They can't discuss with me, and he can't call till tomorrow, so just wondering if any of you know---do they prorate the final month payment because she is only eligible technically till the 12th? we are in PA if that makes a difference for rules/laws.

I am not going to do anything with the check till I know it was sent to us correctly, and then we will probably cash it and add it to the graduation money we were planning to give her, so it won't be ours anyway--but I am just curious how it ended up coming back to us.
Any ideas?

 

[wovenwonder]

That makes perfect sense.

Is she going to school beyond HS? If she is, he may still need to pay support.

 

[pyrxtc]

I don't know but I am paying attention since this will be us in 3 yrs.

As far as paying after she is 18, it depends on what the agreement says. DH's says 18, Mine with my Ex says 18 or 24 if going to college.

I have hear many reports on how tough it was to get them to stop taking money from people when their kids turned 18 so it's almost nice to see the reverse.

 

[rainy~daze]

That makes perfect sense.

Is she going to school beyond HS? If she is, he may still need to pay support.

the original support documentation only states till 18 or graduate high school, whichever later. So we are in no way legally obligated to pay for further education--at least not in PA.
A few years ago the ruling by state supreme court was unless it is in a divorce decree or agreed to as part of the support arrangement, that since the state cannot force married parents to fund a childs college education it is unconstitutional to force unmarried parents to be obligated to fund it.

 

[QT Pooh]

the original support documentation only states till 18 or graduate high school, whichever later. So we are in no way legally obligated to pay for further education--at least not in PA.
A few years ago the ruling by state supreme court was unless it is in a divorce decree or agreed to as part of the support arrangement, that since the state cannot force married parents to fund a childs college education it is unconstitutional to force unmarried parents to be obligated to fund it.

That's exactly how my divorce decree is stated...either when they turn 18 or graduate high school, whichever is later. The full payments continue until the youngest of the supported children meets those requirements.

It is also illegal in NH to have anything in the decree about paying for college. Unless you have another younger child that you are paying support for...I'd say congratulations on meeting your obligations!! Cash the check!!

 

[blanq]

I manage a child support unit in a Minnesota County. States differ in how they handle how support is calculated in the month that a child emancipates. In my state, if support is due on the first of the month and the child graduates any day after the first of the month, then the entire monthly amount is due. If the court order states support is due half on the first and half on the 15th, then support can be proprated...if the child graduated on the 6th, then the first half would be due, but the 2nd half not due. Some states prorate the last month due daily, so divide the monthly amount by the number of days in the month and times by the number of days support is owed up to the date of graduation. We don't prorate daily in my state unless the court order would specify that is how it should be calculated, and I have only seen that maybe 2x in 20 years.

Anyway, it definately sounds like your DH's support was prorated due to emancipation and that the check you received is no error, but go ahead and have him double check if you want to make sure.

 

[haley's mom]

First let me say, CONGRATS on no more Child Support!! We have just 2 more short years then the oldest will be out of school. The youngest is still only 10.5. But we are definatley looking forward to June 2011.

I too am from PA, so I would love to hear your final outcome.

Now, did you DH have an overpayment arrears? I know due to many different circumstances, my DH has about $1500 in overpayments. When we asked our attorney about this money, could we stop payments until the arrears were $0? She said no, we will get any overpayments when the child turns 18 or is out of high school. So for us the overpayments will not get returned for many more years. Maybe this is the case.

Also, I thought in PA you had to file a petition to modify support when the child was 18 or out of high school, that it was not automatic.

Hopefully, you will get to keep the check!

 

[HeatherFeather]

I would do a little math...take the amount your DH normally pays each month and divide it by 30. (for the number of days in June) Multiply that number by 18. (number of days child was 18) If that is the amount of your check or very close, I would guess that they did prorate. Cash it and happy granduation to DSD!

We have 11 more months of paying CS for DSD and then she is coming to live with us for college! We can't wait~

 

[Jsme]

Things may have changed since my step DD graduated in NC, 3 years ago. But when she graduated I had to provide proof that she had graduated by sending in a transcript that stated graduated. We also had to pay that month. They lost the orginial transcript due to a change in the case worker and we had to pay in July and send in another transript. We did get a refund for the July payment but had to pay the entire month of June.

I was lucky. DH put me as a contact person on his child support case so that anyone there could discuss the case with me. Of course I was also the one who made sure those payments were made every month.

We conitnued giving her the money each month but it came from us verses the state. Well we did until she told us she wanted nothing more to do with us.

 

[Janet Hill]

First let me say, CONGRATS on no more Child Support!! We have just 2 more short years then the oldest will be out of school. The youngest is still only 10.5. But we are definatley looking forward to June 2011.

WOW, but you sure are happy for all the "child support" your husband gives for your daughter.

 

[sherabby]

My DH got a check yesterday in the mail too from child support. My step son graduated. He's keeping the check since his account is also overpaid.

 

[IntercomGroupPage]

WOW, but you sure are happy for all the "child support" your husband gives for your daughter.

I, for one, cannot WAIT until we don't have to pay "child support" anymore.

My husband's ex doesn't use it for his kid AT ALL. The kid wears hand-me-downs from cousins... I could go on and on.

Instead, the ex bought herself a brand new van with double DVD players and automatic doors. Our money makes the payment on it.

I don't begrudge the kid the money, it's the pig ex that doesn't deserve it.

 

[sammielynn]

So once YOUR child turns 18 you don't want to support them anymore? If you still lived with that child would you throw then out at 18?
I'm on the receiving end of support, I spend the money I get to support the children he helped produce. They are both going to college one is 18 and the other 19. How do you expect the kids to live?
My ex is getting married in July to a woman with four kids at home. If he supports them with housing, clothing and food, he should support his own until they are at least out of college.

 

[IntercomGroupPage]

So once YOUR child turns 18 you don't want to support them anymore? If you still lived with that child would you throw then out at 18?
I'm on the receiving end of support, I spend the money I get to support the children he helped produce. They are both going to college one is 18 and the other 19. How do you expect the kids to live?
My ex is getting married in July to a woman with four kids at home. If he supports them with housing, clothing and food, he should support his own until they are at least out of college.

If you are talking to me, I never said that.

When the kid turns 18 the money will go to THE KID. Not the pig. We have no intentions of abandoning the kid. It will be wonderful to know that the money goes WHERE IT BELONGS.

 

[clj1410]

First let me say, CONGRATS on no more Child Support!! We have just 2 more short years then the oldest will be out of school. The youngest is still only 10.5. But we are definatley looking forward to June 2011.

I too am from PA, so I would love to hear your final outcome.

Now, did you DH have an overpayment arrears? I know due to many different circumstances, my DH has about $1500 in overpayments. When we asked our attorney about this money, could we stop payments until the arrears were $0? She said no, we will get any overpayments when the child turns 18 or is out of high school. So for us the overpayments will not get returned for many more years. Maybe this is the case.

Also, I thought in PA you had to file a petition to modify support when the child was 18 or out of high school, that it was not automatic.

Hopefully, you will get to keep the check!

We have 2 more years left too, can't wait!

There has been several times that my husband has overpaid his ex, and we just filed a motion with the court and they sign an order so that she only gets half the child support, until she is caught up, or she pays us back a set amount each week.

It might be worth checking with your child support probabtion officer.

We are in NJ

 

[sammielynn]

If you are talking to me, I never said that.

When the kid turns 18 the money will go to THE KID. Not the pig. We have no intentions of abandoning the kid. It will be wonderful to know that the money goes WHERE IT BELONGS.

I stand corrected. It's just a sore subject with me. If my ex wants to give the money to the kids I'm good with that.

 

[Schachteles]

I manage a child support unit in a Minnesota County. States differ in how they handle how support is calculated in the month that a child emancipates. In my state, if support is due on the first of the month and the child graduates any day after the first of the month, then the entire monthly amount is due. If the court order states support is due half on the first and half on the 15th, then support can be proprated...if the child graduated on the 6th, then the first half would be due, but the 2nd half not due. Some states prorate the last month due daily, so divide the monthly amount by the number of days in the month and times by the number of days support is owed up to the date of graduation. We don't prorate daily in my state unless the court order would specify that is how it should be calculated, and I have only seen that maybe 2x in 20 years.

Anyway, it definately sounds like your DH's support was prorated due to emancipation and that the check you received is no error, but go ahead and have him double check if you want to make sure.

Since you work for Minnesota where I live, I am going to ask you...my DH has about 3 years of child support left and his is "18 or graduation, whichever is later" (and based on his sons birthday, we will pay through graduation)...how do we get the payments to stop come June of 2012?? Do we have to go to court? Does you guys automatically stop payments?

Thanks for the help, I know my DH and I have been wondering about it and our time is coming...but not too soon.

 

[rainy~daze]

Not much of an update here, DH has to wait till tomorrow to call-had to go to Jersey today at the last minute.

We had gotten a letter back in August when she turned 18 about proving she was still eligible for support, it was just a copy really since her mom was the one to prove she was still eligible. When I spoke to the CS office yesterday the only thing they could tell me was that the letter had been sent to both her mother and father, and it is possible that based on the response they received they already have the info that she is graduating this month.

I did do the math, and the refund is almost exactly what the difference was between the date she graduates and the 30th of the month. But, just to be safe, I still won't do anything with it till he confirms what it is and why we got it.

 

[LuvMy3Monkeys]

I could go into a whole rant here about DH's child support that he pays that doesn't go to his child... URGH... but I won't do that!!

Simply put... women can choose to not want anything to do with their kid and have an abortion, but if the dad decides to move on... hes some kind of "deadbeat" and gets frowned upon even if he DOES make all of his payments. And as soon as someone is excited that they don't have to pay child support, or that it has gone down, they get flamed like "ohhh you dont want to suppport the kid, huh!?!?". That doesn't seem very fair. That's one reason I hate the child support system. It doesnt represent both sides equally... but thats a whole nother story

ANYWAY! On to the actual point of this post!!

Get a statement by your DH notarized and send to the CS office. It needs to state that you, his wife, can correspond by phone or in writing with anything regarding the child support case, and he gives you permission to act on his behalf when receiving phone calls or notifications.

I do this pretty much because my husband doesnt read very well (has dyslexia) and doesnt understand alot of the terms and such, so we spent alot of time with him having to explain that they need to talk to me and then me talking to them and then having to put him back on to ask something else and then saying they should explain it to me instead. What a nightmare!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I don't know what your husband pays and since you weren't expecting the money, maybe you could use it as a graduation gift for the child.

When my DS turned 18, (no college for him), my DH's ex refused to send the paperwork to the state. We did, but it had to come from the custodial parent. We had to pay for 3 extra months. We were due a refund but since that would have "confused" the case worker, we just asked for the case to be closed and legal documentation of that. And the sad truth is that my stepson hasn't called or tried to contact his dad since he turned 18. (DH calls him all the time and gets a machine). I think it's really sad because we would have helped him even though DH wasn't legally obligated anymore, but when the checks stopped, so did the phone calls. Really sad!! Sorry OP, I side-lined your thread.