Child Support-Please help

[MrsDarby 0]

Hello,

I have a big concern...my fiance just moved over 2 weeks ago. We are getting married in one week, and our lawyer has told us that he probably won't be able to work (get permission) until the very earliest of July. That's 3 months out of work plus the month he's already been out of work. Naturally finances are very tight. We are having a traditional wedding, and my parents are paying for MOST of it. So what little money my fiance has is saved for day-to-day living and emergencies.

My fiance was married before in England, and they have a child together. Since getting divorced and paying chil support (just over one year) my fiance has been paying 35% more each month than recommended for his income bracket. He also paid for half of her lawyers fees and divorce fees. He also paid half of her moving expenses so she could be closer to her family. All these outgoings have put him in the hole financially.

Anyway, he has told her that he will not be able to pay for a couple months until he is working (by the way he has been out of work for one month and has paid during this time). She wrote him a pretty nasty e-mail about how she is going to go to her lawyer again (this whole thing has been very messy) and will seek legal assistance against him. She says that her lawyer can "get him" over here, and he'll be paying more because they will consider my income too. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can she really go after him in the U.S.?

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS...he has paid more than he is required to pay. This is a VERY temporary situation until he is working again. He just plain old does not have the money to pay right now. His child's mother is very well off, so she is not struggling in the least (although she claims she is). She got a huge settlement when her father passed away. Not to mention that she has a good job and no house payment. Yes, he should also be responsible to pay for his child, and he would be if he could be working. Of course it's not his decision to not be working.

[LenJayUS 0]

Sounds like it would be best to talk to a lawyer... child support laws verify from state to state, and in this case country to country. Here in NC, and a couple of states that I know of from looking things up, your income would not be considered into it no matter what.

There's too many varibles for a common person that's not up on all the laws to know. Yes, he should pay some kind of child support, but if he's unable to.. the only way that "I" know of for her lawyer to get him over here would be to take it to court, and then have the UK govt try and extradite him.... would they do that over a temporary civil thing? I doubt it.. but again, I don't know.

And figures... he seems to go above and beyond to help out... more CS payments then required.. helping her out and what not... and she wants to pull this #######.

[Welshcookie 17]

I think she has a hard job on her hands....and an expensive one. If she is going to rely on CSA (Child support Agency) to do this...They can't even get their act together in the UK let alone another country. I suggest a well worded letter explaining that no payment can be made until your husband is able to work....and when he does payments will resume. Hopefully she will see sense and be reasonable about it.

Good Luck....

[Jasman0717 9]

Sounds like it would be best to talk to a lawyer... child support laws verify from state to state, and in this case country to country. Here in NC, and a couple of states that I know of from looking things up, your income would not be considered into it no matter what.

There's too many varibles for a common person that's not up on all the laws to know. Yes, he should pay some kind of child support, but if he's unable to.. the only way that "I" know of for her lawyer to get him over here would be to take it to court, and then have the UK govt try and extradite him.... would they do that over a temporary civil thing? I doubt it.. but again, I don't know.

And figures... he seems to go above and beyond to help out... more CS payments then required.. helping her out and what not... and she wants to pull this #######.

[sparkofcreation 0]

There is most definitely an international child support agreement that means she can "get him" here. If it were the other way around (American moving to the UK), I'd say he should file to have the case transferred to there for collection (in the US, if the payor lives out of state/country, it's collected by his/her state or country) and file there to have the child support reduced. I would also say that being temporarily legally prohibited from working is probably grounds to suspend child support *enforcement* (meaning they couldn't do anything to him if he didn't pay) but not the support itself, so the arrears would accumulate and he'd have to pay it off later.

I don't know the details of Britain's system, though. But yes, there is an international agreement on child support that the US is party to, and I assume Britain is also.

It doesn't mean jack that he's paid more than he was supposed to if he's been paying what the court order/divorce settlement said. Now, if it says he should pay £100/wk and he's been paying £135/wk, obviously he should have a credit outstanding. But it sounds to me like he agreed to pay more than he would have been required to, and that agreement was memorialized. He won't get credit for that.

That said, I once had an a**hole father claim he couldn't pay child support because his green card was pending and he didn't want to work illegally and processing times out of Texas (forget which DO) were 2-3 years. Guess he and his lawyer didn't know there was such a thing as an EAD. I nearly strangled him. (And the hard thing about being an interpreter is that I couldn't interject and say "Why didn't you file for the work permit, which they're legally required to give you within 90 days?" I did tell the Hearing Officer afterwards in case the situation came up again, but ... grr.)

Edited to add: (1) I hope he's paid by check/money order or has receipts. (2) In New Jersey, at least [never worked in family court elsewhere] a temporary inability to work is not grounds for reducing child support, but a new, lower-paying job would be. (3) Your income will not be counted unless you and he have a child together, in which case he would get a smaller credit for your child the larger your income is. (I mean, he gets a credit and a reduction in the child support order for supporting another child besides the one in England. That credit depends on how much money the mother of the other child makes.)

Edited March 25, 2006 by sparkofcreation

[desert_fox 32]

Many states already have separate agreements with Great Brit to honor and collect each others court ordered child support payments.

[meddykomp 0]

Hello,

I have a big concern...my fiance just moved over 2 weeks ago. We are getting married in one week, and our lawyer has told us that he probably won't be able to work (get permission) until the very earliest of July. That's 3 months out of work plus the month he's already been out of work. Naturally finances are very tight. We are having a traditional wedding, and my parents are paying for MOST of it. So what little money my fiance has is saved for day-to-day living and emergencies.

My fiance was married before in England, and they have a child together. Since getting divorced and paying chil support (just over one year) my fiance has been paying 35% more each month than recommended for his income bracket. He also paid for half of her lawyers fees and divorce fees. He also paid half of her moving expenses so she could be closer to her family. All these outgoings have put him in the hole financially.

Anyway, he has told her that he will not be able to pay for a couple months until he is working (by the way he has been out of work for one month and has paid during this time). She wrote him a pretty nasty e-mail about how she is going to go to her lawyer again (this whole thing has been very messy) and will seek legal assistance against him. She says that her lawyer can "get him" over here, and he'll be paying more because they will consider my income too. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can she really go after him in the U.S.?

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS...he has paid more than he is required to pay. This is a VERY temporary situation until he is working again. He just plain old does not have the money to pay right now. His child's mother is very well off, so she is not struggling in the least (although she claims she is). She got a huge settlement when her father passed away. Not to mention that she has a good job and no house payment. Yes, he should also be responsible to pay for his child, and he would be if he could be working. Of course it's not his decision to not be working.

I would imagine that international would follow the same rules as interstate, which is that the child support amount is only based on the income of the parent. This even caries over into tax refunds being garnished for child support. My son's biological father is seriously behind on support. When he was married and filed a joint tax return, I only got his portion of the return, his wife's portion was mailed to her.

[Welshcookie 17]

There is some info here:

http://travel.state.gov/family/services/su...pport_2615.html

[raphael7546 0]

There is most definitely an international child support agreement that means she can "get him" here. If it were the other way around (American moving to the UK), I'd say he should file to have the case transferred to there for collection (in the US, if the payor lives out of state/country, it's collected by his/her state or country) and file there to have the child support reduced. I would also say that being temporarily legally prohibited from working is probably grounds to suspend child support *enforcement* (meaning they couldn't do anything to him if he didn't pay) but not the support itself, so the arrears would accumulate and he'd have to pay it off later.

I don't know the details of Britain's system, though. But yes, there is an international agreement on child support that the US is party to, and I assume Britain is also.

It doesn't mean jack that he's paid more than he was supposed to if he's been paying what the court order/divorce settlement said. Now, if it says he should pay £100/wk and he's been paying £135/wk, obviously he should have a credit outstanding. But it sounds to me like he agreed to pay more than he would have been required to, and that agreement was memorialized. He won't get credit for that.

That said, I once had an a**hole father claim he couldn't pay child support because his green card was pending and he didn't want to work illegally and processing times out of Texas (forget which DO) were 2-3 years. Guess he and his lawyer didn't know there was such a thing as an EAD. I nearly strangled him. (And the hard thing about being an interpreter is that I couldn't interject and say "Why didn't you file for the work permit, which they're legally required to give you within 90 days?" I did tell the Hearing Officer afterwards in case the situation came up again, but ... grr.)

Edited to add: (1) I hope he's paid by check/money order or has receipts. (2) In New Jersey, at least [never worked in family court elsewhere] a temporary inability to work is not grounds for reducing child support, but a new, lower-paying job would be. (3) Your income will not be counted unless you and he have a child together, in which case he would get a smaller credit for your child the larger your income is. (I mean, he gets a credit and a reduction in the child support order for supporting another child besides the one in England. That credit depends on how much money the mother of the other child makes.)

Not sure about the UK but I know that because my Child custody agreement/child support agreement was initialized in Canada All re-assessments, changes/whatever have to be done in Canadian courts. This supercedes American law.

Sry to say but just because the other parent is well off doesn't dissmiss the fact that the other parent has to pay child support.However, the courts take into account the budgets of both parents and their income.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Sounds like it would be best to talk to a lawyer... child support laws verify from state to state, and in this case country to country. Here in NC, and a couple of states that I know of from looking things up, your income would not be considered into it no matter what.

There's too many varibles for a common person that's not up on all the laws to know. Yes, he should pay some kind of child support, but if he's unable to.. the only way that "I" know of for her lawyer to get him over here would be to take it to court, and then have the UK govt try and extradite him.... would they do that over a temporary civil thing? I doubt it.. but again, I don't know.

And figures... he seems to go above and beyond to help out... more CS payments then required.. helping her out and what not... and she wants to pull this #######.

[Patricia_and_andy 0]

Here is our experience!!! this is happening to Andy (UK) as we speak.

1.) Andy wnats to pay child support

2.) immigrates to USA, has enough money in savings UK account which child support is direct debited out of for approx 3 months.

3.) Savings about to run out.. Andy calls Child support agency in the UK explains to them the situation that his savings has run out ... he is in USA and wants to set up direct debit from here to pay his support.

4.) Child support agency says "YOU DON"T HAVE TO PAY now that you are in the USA" also there is no means to debit from USA for child support.

5.) Andy insists that he wants to pay and child support agency says again "YOU DON"T HAVE TO PAY>> and the only thing ex-spouse can do is try to take it to court but it is hardly ever up held.... child support agency does NOTHING to seek payment from parent in the USA."

6.) Andy gives up with child support agency tells them that he will continue to pay via other means.

7.) We set up a bank account here in the use... send debit card to his ex... and she withdrawls her weekly support .

So to answer your question ... yes she can try to take him to court for payment of child support... it would be an expensive and drawn out affair that would probably take long than his 3 months to get his EAD. I would say his best bet is to send a certified copy of a letter to his EX as well as the child support agency (keeping the orginial certified copy for himself) detailing his intent to pay support when he starts working. Also notifying the child support agency in England via phone to let them know what is happening. This way he is covered if she indeed takes him to court.. This will at least give him documentation of his intentions.

Andy sent a letter to his ex and the child support agency just to make sure he is in a way protected if his ex tries to say he isn't paying.

I hope this has helped some if you need any more information send me a pm and I will be happy to give more of our experience.

Patricia

Edited March 26, 2006 by Patricia_and_andy

[gimygirl 0]

mmhmm ... just as i said in her other thread!

great firsthand advice, patricia!!!!!!!!!!!

[Welshcookie 17]

...They can't even get their act together in the UK let alone another country.

6.) Andy gives up with child support agency tells them that he will continue to pay via other means.

Edited March 26, 2006 by welshcookie

[Patricia_and_andy 0]

mmhmm ... just as i said in her other thread!

great firsthand advice, patricia!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Gimy... I posted this in that thread as well... and your letter advice was spot on!!

Patricia.

[MrsDarby 0]

Patricia-

Thanks for the information. It was nice to hear from someone in a similar situation. I think the idea of setting up an account here and sending a debit card for her to use in the UK is a great way to send money. Much easier than trying to wire the money as that can be quite costly. I will definitely tell my fiance.

Thanks!