Child support paid in cash

D

drighter_101

New Member
Jurisdiction
Missouri
From Oct. 2016 to May 2017 I had been paying my ex child support in cash. We had always been on good terms and I was assured they were keeping track and going to report it properly. Now we are at odds and in court with a custody battle. When child support was brought up I was surprised to find that I in fact haven't paid anything at all and am in the rears and there is no intention of the court or enforcement agency to know otherwise. This is what I have. I have text messages every week for at least 2 months that state the amount I paid why I paid and when I paid with their acknowledgment of receipt, I have a few wire transfers from when I was out of state, I have 2 different eye witnesses on 2 separate occasions in a private setting and I have (these will probably lie for them) went to their place of employment and handed over money in front of their coworkers. We are talking about thousands of dollars. Surely some of it can be recovered and credited. I talked to a local attorney but they said the only form of proof that is acceptable is money order receipts and canceled checks, I find that hard to believe, actually I refuse to believe it but before I go spending hundreds of more dollars on a lawyer I want some kind of positive feedback, otherwise whats the use? Please let me know. Thanks
 
drighter_101 said:
From Oct. 2016 to May 2017 I had been paying my ex child support in cash. We had always been on good terms and I was assured they were keeping track and going to report it properly. Now we are at odds and in court with a custody battle. When child support was brought up I was surprised to find that I in fact haven't paid anything at all and am in the rears and there is no intention of the court or enforcement agency to know otherwise. This is what I have. I have text messages every week for at least 2 months that state the amount I paid why I paid and when I paid with their acknowledgment of receipt, I have a few wire transfers from when I was out of state, I have 2 different eye witnesses on 2 separate occasions in a private setting and I have (these will probably lie for them) went to their place of employment and handed over money in front of their coworkers. We are talking about thousands of dollars. Surely some of it can be recovered and credited. I talked to a local attorney but they said the only form of proof that is acceptable is money order receipts and canceled checks, I find that hard to believe, actually I refuse to believe it but before I go spending hundreds of more dollars on a lawyer I want some kind of positive feedback, otherwise whats the use? Please let me know. Thanks
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That was a bad idea to pay her directly and in cash. Now you have no proof that you paid it and it's basically a gift if you pay it to her. ALWAYS go through the state with child support. I don't know why people think it's easier to pay the person. I argued that with my ex husband all the time (I paid his child support for a couple years so we could see the kids). He thought it was easier to pay her. I said no it won't count. I started to write checks. Then the state caught up to him and I paid to the state.

You can try to get credited for that but I don't think it's going to happen. Even with text messages or receipts. You could always find a lawyer that does free consultations and talk to them about your options.

INFORMAL CHILD SUPPORT AGREEMENTS AND THE LAW
Sometimes parents will make informal agreements regarding child support, especially if that child support is not garnished from wages. For example, the non-custodial parent may agree to pay for new school clothes in exchange for not paying child support that month. Or the custodial parent may request that the non-custodial parent pay child support directly to them. Unfortunately, these informal agreements can create problems.

The reason that almost all child support payments are made through DSS is that it makes it easy to confirm whether a payment has been made. This protects the paying parent from allegations of non-payment that could result in serious consequences.
 
mightymoose said:
Talk to a couple more attorneys to get a consensus. If they are in agreement then you should know what to expect.
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mightymoose said:
Talk to a couple more attorneys to get a consensus. If they are in agreement then you should know what to expect.
Click to expand...
mightymoose said:
Talk to a couple more attorneys to get a consensus. If they are in agreement then you should know what to expect.
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Thanks. This all started when I was out of town. She needed money so I sent it to her. Told her to just turn it in do she didn't have to pay me back. She said she would and I believed her.
 
drighter_101 said:
I have 2 different eye witnesses on 2 separate occasions in a private setting and I have (these will probably lie for them) went to their place of employment and handed over money in front of their coworkers.
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The odds are slim to none that you will get any of those people into court unless they are HER friends and HER co-workers and that won't go well for you.

drighter_101 said:
I have text messages every week for at least 2 months that state the amount I paid why I paid and when I paid with their acknowledgment of receipt, I have a few wire transfers from when I was out of state,
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I think you will need a lawyer who is experienced in addressing this kind of evidence. You won't know how and the judge will just shut you down.
 
You might not prove to satisfaction of the various state child support collections operators, but the IRS might be interested in her for NOT reporting the GIFTS on her tax filings.

The IRS encourages people to snitch out tax cheats.

She'll never know who ratted her out, and the IRS will handsomely reward you for snitching out any tax cheaters.
 
That's something worth thinking about for sure. I'm also sure dfs would be interested as she receives food stamps. I am already putting a package together to send them.
 
army judge said:
the IRS might be interested in her for NOT reporting the GIFTS on her tax filings.
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No, the IRS won't be interested. Monetary gifts are neither reportable by nor taxable to the recipient.

Only the giver has to file a gift tax return and only if the annual gift total was more than $14,000 per person (2014 through 2017).

$14,000 or less and the IRS doesn't say boo.

Even if he gave more each year he wouldn't have to pay tax on the gift because the lifetime gift tax exclusion has been well over $5,000,000.

And making a false report of tax evasion to the IRS could subject him to IRS punishment as well as a defamation lawsuit by the ex.
 

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