Please Please Help

[Darby 0]

Hi,

To make a long story short...my husband has a son from a previous marriage who is living in the UK with his mom. My husband pays child support for his son.

He has not been able to pay the full amount that was set in England back when they were going through the divorce process, etc. The amount was incredibly high for one child, and he agreed to this amount because the ex-wife was threatening to take him to court-something he wanted to avoid.

Currently he is working temporarily at a LOW paying job in the US until he starts his career job in March/April. Of course the exchange rate is different, so the low pay he receives over here translated to GBP is much lower in the UK. Where we live in the US cost of living and salary is less than in the UK.

Whether this is relevant or not, I might add that his son is in no way living poorly. Of course my husband is responsible for providing for his son, and his ex-wife is wealthy on her own. We, on the other hand, are trying to get on our feet with my husband working temporarily, wasn't able to work for months as we waited for the work permit, and I'm soon going on maternity leave with our first baby. Despite all this about one-third of his weekly earnings is going towards his son in England.

**Yesterday he received a letter from her lawyer in England demanding that he start paying more per week. If he doesn't agree to pay more (which is almost double of what he is currently paying) his ex-wife will consider further legal action. She is willing to have him pay less than the original agreement when they were getting divorced, but it's still way above his weekly earnings. Eventually she wants him to continue paying the previously agreed on amount, and until then will keep track of the difference so he can pay back every cent.

The lawyer has mentioned they are able to make him pay what they demand even though he's living in the US. Apparently under something called the "Hague Convention" the UK has a reciprocal agreement with most the states to force non-custodial parents to pay.

Is anyone familiar with this? Does anyone have any ideas for us? We are not able to pay the amount that was originally set-we just can't. I know that in the end they cannot force us to pay what we can't afford, but I really want to avoid any sort of legal mess. It's stated in their divorce agreement that if the income of my husband were to change, this would also affect the weekly child support/maintenance payments.

If anyone knows or has any experience with this-it would be greatly appreciated. My husband isn't too worried about the ex-wife taking further legal action against him, but it scares me to death that she is back in contact with her lawyer. In the past she has been willing to do whatever to get whatever she wants.

I just want it to be fair for everyone.

Thank you.