Cali_D

It's now 1 year later so I thought I would update this thread for those that remember this from a year ago. I am not looking to argue. I know people will say this is wrong, but it's not. For those saying it's a federal matter, not a state matter. Your wrong also. Your state and county matter a lot because divorce and cost of living are factored by those things. I have been to court more times then I can remember in the last 2 years. During the last 1 year (since my last post), I hired more 2 lawyers. 1 specializing in immigration law and 1 that is a divorce lawyer. The first thing to note is, 99% (I made that number up, but it's most) of immigration lawyers have no idea how divorce works. They only know how to get immigrants to America. Full Stop. After a few months the immigration lawyer admitted he had no idea about any of this and he removed himself from the case. He openly admitted he had no idea the i-864 was so binding to the sponsor. To be clear, I have now brought 2 different immigration lawyers to court and they were both useless. Trust me, stop paying them. Get a Family Law attorney and nothing else. Everyone's thinks the I-864 document only binds you to pay back the government. This is 100% false. My lawyers found countless cases that sponsors were paying their immigrant Ex directly. When going before multiple different judges the judges all cited those cases and scoffed at the idea that I would not have to pay my ex directly. And to make matters worse, most people think it's for 40 quarters (10 years). Normally it is. However, in some rare situations it can be much more. The reason it's stops after 10 years is most immigrants get a maximum of a 10 year green card. If that is not your situation, then the 10 years stops when the immigrant works and pays social security for 40 quarters. That 40 quarters may take 80 quarters to achieve, so be it. Bad luck for you. I am now done with this completely, their is no higher court, there are no more appeals. This is final. I don't want to stir up a hornets nest, because last year people thought I was dead wrong and argued forever about it. But I have now met dozens of men who are in the exact same situation I am in so I want to warn people. Unfortunately for me, I am California and the cost of living is high, and I have a high income. I will be paying thousands of dollars every month for 10 years. This stops when she dies, marries, or works for 10 years. Thats it. Case closed. If someone tells you different their are only 2 possibilities: They are lying or their Ex didn't' know the law and they got lucky.

Just under 2 years (or about) remaining on the (at least) 10 years or 40 quarters.. ok, this time I am really going... cheers.

Thank you for your civility. Cheers. Off to the gym now, so I won't be replying to anyone tonight. 🙂

In the end, you may be right. Though my agreement does have a date for start and stop. She can try to sue me after 10 years, and may very well win. Though, this brings up a different problem. She has a 10 year green card. So if she gets that extended (without me), it may release me of my responsibility. Though, this is just a thought. I have no idea if that is true. Anyway, that's a different topic. But for sure my agreement has an end date for the 10 years. Looked at it today.

That's why I said (I think). Anyways, not looking to argue. I am just telling everyone what 3 lawyers told me today after about 2 hours. You know what really sucks. I can't image the bill I will get for paying for that meeting! lol 😂

Good question, I asked all these questions today. Also, they were clearly spelled out in my judgement papers. If she works 40 quarters, I stop paying. If she becomes a citizen I stop paying. If she goes home tomorrow temporally, I still pay. If she changes her permanent residence, I stop paying. If she dies, I stop paying.

Do you guys care more about being right? Or helping people? Are you suggesting I am lying because I didn't remember the amount I pay every month? Ridiculous. Also, she is under no obligation look for work. She would be obligated to supplement her income if I was paying her spousal support. But I do not pay spousal support. I-864 income is not spousal support. And yes, she could try to collect after 10 years. The Kumar case was ruled on in 2017 (I think). It will be interesting to see what happens after 10 years.

You are dead wrong and clearly didn't read the Kumar case I cited. A payout in divorce doesn't affect the obligation of support per I-864. It doesn't matter that she became a billionaire in a divorce settlement. THIS HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN REAL WORLD CASES. You can have your opinion, but you are wrong about the law. Read the full Kumar v. Kumar case please. This was the first most and most known case. After this, many more cases came about, all with the same result. I hate that this has turned into a debate. This is what I was worried about. Please stop spewing your opinion of things as facts.

The problem is, it is not widely known by immigration lawyers because they don't do many divorces. Regardless, I would have still signed the document and 7 years ago when I signed it my income as far less than it is today. Love makes you do crazy things, lol 🤣

Payout I could give her $0 or million dollars, it would have no bearing on the I-864. My payout was a DIVORCE SETTLEMENT. I-864 has nothing to do with divorce. These matters are not related. 3 lawyers told me that today. If she was an American, I would have paid her the same 250, with no I-864 support. Conversely, if I was broke and she was an immigrant, I would have paid her zero dollars in divorce settlement and I would still be paying her monthly per the case law on I-864. If Bill Gates marries an immigrant, he will be paying her monthly per the case law on I-864. I realize thats an extreme example, but it's true. Even if he gave her a billion dollars, she would be able to collect the tiny amount from I-864. Even if the court ordered Bill to pay a monthly spousal support of a million dollars a month, she would still be able to collect the tiny additional amount from I-864. Divorce settlement and I-864 support are in no way related. I am not sure how to make the more clear. Increase amount The amount would only go up if the person sues me. Nothing is automated. There is no system in place for automatic increase. 10 years 10 years came from the case law. The document stats 40 quarters (10 years). As I have said many times, this has been interpreted by the court to mean I must pay 125% above the living wage for 10 years. If you want to understand the real world consequences of signing an i-864, look at case law, not just the document.

Not going to reply to each person.. I'll just try to answer a few questions.. The large payout of 250k has absolutely nothing to do with the I-864. Nothing. Zero. Forget about it. It's not a factor when determining how much she should be paid per I-864 guidelines. That payout was a divorce settlement. As explained several times, these are 2 very different issues. I don't know if the amount will ever increase but it can, that depends on my ex. It's actually just under 2k. Regardless, for the amount to increase, my ex would need to take me to court (unless I just agree) and a judge would decide if it would increase. And, I can 100% tell you, YES it would increase. I would lose because I am bound to support her for 10 years. That's the law. Something my lawyer told me today that I think might be helpful to everyone .. The document is not the most important part of understanding the law, the interpretation of the document is the most important thing. Many judges have given their interpretation of this through case law. So, if you want to understand the law, you really need to look at how judges have ruled and interpreted documents. This is why we have a US Supreme court and State Supreme courts. So in ALL cases taken to federal and state court (in CA and others), the court determined the I-864 means you will pay directly to your spouse (if they so choose) for 10 years. There is no getting around it. Even with a prenuptial agreement.

I don't understand what you mean. My current agreement does match the requirements of the I-864. It says I will pay her in accordance to the I-864 guidelines, which is what everyone agrees to when signing that document. This is what everyone doesn't seem to understand. To be clear: the I-864 legally binds anyone who signs it to pay DIRECTLY to the person you sponsor. Given that, I'm not sure what you are asking?

Update: My divorce lawyer reached out to 2 immigration lawyers today. Both of them started confident that the I-864 ONLY binds me to the government. They ended the conversation realizing they were wrong. I am also bound to directly support the person I sponsor. The case I referenced earlier Kumar v. Kumar is the reason. Family court has upheld that the sponsor must pay directly to the immigrant. The 3 lawyers then found many other case law examples where this has been upheld. To those that give advice (on this website), please be careful when stating things as fact. Obviously most people were wrong about this. Let's not care about being right or wrong. Let's only care that the correct information is being given out. Also, I realized today that using an immigration lawyer is great for getting an immigrant into America. But it seems they are not great at family law. They didn't know anything about divorce, division of assets, martial agreement etc... Not sure if this is the final update or not. If there is more, I will come back to update.

This, I did ask. They told me plainly, because 99% of the people divorcing (and their attorneys) don't understand immigration law. They come to places like this website (no offense to anyone, I appreciate the feedback) and get legal advice from people that have good intentions but are not experts on the granular details of the law. This site is a great resource for understanding the process behind visa's. But when it comes to contracts and legalities, lawyers seem to be the way to go. I'm living proof! 😂

Honestly don't know. It will be couple weeks before the expert is available. I will try to follow up then.