Does anybody have any experience dealing w/child support probs.

[Tiggeroo]

My dh has two children from a previous marriage. The oldest is 27, the youngest is 24. They did not attend college and left their mothers home before they turned 18, much before actually. We had a very difficult time emancipating the boys because there were several states and assorted counties involved. Recently we had a judge emancipate the boys retroactively to their 18th birthday. The county was ordered to calculate the balance back to that date. There is an arrearage and the thought was with this calculation the arrearage would be gone. We did not want to collect on any overpayment, simply to eliminate the arrearage.
The calculation they did was crazy. It is off in our minds by a huge amount of money. I am trying to decide how to deal with this. We don't have alot of money around to deal with this. I am wondering if an accountant would be best to do an outside party calculation or if a lawyer would be best to argue my point. Any thoughts or experience in this area?

 

[ElizaB39]

I think more details are needed. Does your DH owe child support from certain ages of the children up until they turned 18 (and not after they turned 18)? Or, does his ex owe you child support and you are trying to calculate what she owes you?

Why not get a copy of the calculation from the county/judge/whoever and take a look at it yourselves, then see if it makes sense or not. It may be including interest on the support money owed.

 

[Patty3]

I think more details are needed. Does your DH owe child support from certain ages of the children up until they turned 18 (and not after they turned 18)? Or, does his ex owe you child support and you are trying to calculate what she owes you?

Why not get a copy of the calculation from the county/judge/whoever and take a look at it yourselves, then see if it makes sense or not. It may be including interest on the support money owed.

Great advice!

 

[Tiggeroo]

thank you. The arrearage is from a long time ago. They've never charged interest on it which is in our favor. The judge ordered that everything that's been paid since their 18th birthday be subtracted from the arrearage. The children haven't lived with their mother for a very long time. She is mentally ill and frequently has no home and won't accept help. Several years ago she went into child support filed a new claim and began collecting full money on the support. Apparently probation was sending all of the money we paid in to her.
If my calculations are correct we've overpaid considerably. We don't want to collect on any overpayment. We just want them to remove the arrearage or come up with a reasonable calculation.
If they charged us interest now that would be mean that if we had just continued to pay the balance until it was paid off we would owe no interest but now since we asked for things to be fixed they decided to charge us interest. We could file a legal case against her for collecting support on children who are grown and have children of their own and no longer reside with her.

 

[jennyl772003]

Just to let you know, child support adds interest to late payments. It is possible that they are adding interest to the amount in arrears, which would make it considerably more.

 

[mickeyboat]

My suggestion is to hire an attorney. If the advice of an accountant is needed to resolve the amount actually owed, the attorney can hire one on your behalf.

Good luck.

Denae