Disability and Contempt for non-payment

[spidermom]

This is in Florida. I am the wife of the NCP.

Due to a documented disability, the NCP was unable to work from the time of the divorce in 2004, racking up approximately $13k in arrears. In October 2006 NCP was awarded VA Disability and began making regular support payments with an additional $100 per month towards arrears.

In January 2008 the NCP ran into financial troubles and was unable to make the regular support payments. (Bank fraud, coupled with late fees, bounced check charges, etc.) This caused the NCP to fall behind in his support payments, and this was perpetuated by increasing gas prices and costs associated with visitation with the minor children. In May, the CP filed for contempt for non-payment.

The hearing was scheduled for late July, but in early July the NCP was notified of a near-fatal illness in the family that required making a trip out of state to be by the family member's side. The NCP alerted the court to this and requested a continuance of the contempt hearing 2 weeks prior to the hearing date. No response was received from the court, and the hearing went on as scheduled.

Due to his absence, the court issued a writ of bodily attachment with a purge amount equaling 71% of his monthly VA income.

I have been told that because NCP is disabled that he can not be held in contempt. Here's the direct quote:

If he is arrested, and if he goes in front of a law abiding Judge, that Judge will have to set aside the order of contempt. He is disabled, that is not a form of willful refusal to pay. The only reason a writ was issued is because he doesn't know the law, and therefore did not appear for the contempt hearing. If he had, all he would have had to do was prove to the court that he wasn't paying because he was disabled... Being disabled is NOT willful contempt and that he can fix that problem.

How much truth is there to that statement in this situation?

Thank you!

 

[Duranie]

Who did you get that statement from, was it an attorney? Is the CP getting a disability benefit on behalf of the children? Is he getting Social Security disability? Being disabled may be a defense, but financial troubles is not. He needs to see an attorney it sounds like. If he is disabled he might be able to find one pro bono.

 

[spidermom]

Who did you get that statement from, was it an attorney? Is the CP getting a disability benefit on behalf of the children? Is he getting Social Security disability? Being disabled may be a defense, but financial troubles is not. He needs to see an attorney it sounds like. If he is disabled he might be able to find one pro bono.

It was from another site like this, from a senior member.

CP is not getting any benefits for the children through the VA. NCP gets roughly $86/mo from the VA to go towards the children, but it's all in one check. NCP is pending SSA disability determination.

 

[irish223]

I found the thread on the other site. That thread was started by the CP. The member who posted the information you posted is, IMO, quite knowledgeable and not prone to guessing. I would trust her advice.

I am curious though, if you are the NCP's wife who just happened on the other site/thread, or are you the CP trying to verify the information without all the vitriole. If you are really the NCP's wife, why not have your husband post on the other site so that he can get the help that was already offered?

 

[spidermom]

I found the thread on the other site. That thread was started by the CP. The member who posted the information you posted is, IMO, quite knowledgeable and not prone to guessing. I would trust her advice.

I am curious though, if you are the NCP's wife who just happened on the other site/thread, or are you the CP trying to verify the information without all the vitriole. If you are really the NCP's wife, why not have your husband post on the other site so that he can get the help that was already offered?

I am genuinely the NCP's wife. The NCP is not allowed to co-mingle with the CP due to an injunction and asked me to do some additional research for him elsewhere. The senior members on the other site have strongly advised him to stay out of any of the CPs threads so that he may use anything she says against her in court, if necessary or pertinent.

He PMed the SR member who gave that quote and she has offered to help him via PM over there, so I think we've got his question answered. Thanks again for your help.

 

[famous21]

It was from another site like this, from a senior member.

CP is not getting any benefits for the children through the VA. NCP gets roughly $86/mo from the VA to go towards the children, but it's all in one check. NCP is pending SSA disability determination.

Hello:

I am a disable veteran and I am well informed about the Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) and Social Security Administration guidelines for child support. The custodial parent in your husband's case is allowed an apportionment that his children would have normally received if he were still married to his former wife.

Social Security is another matter. The rule for child support and deductions thereof from his SSDI payments is that no more than 50% of his total payment can be garnished. This is what happened with my current child support and arrears matter. My ex-wife no longer receives an apportionmenet from the DVA because both of my children are adults and have lived on their own for several years. My oldest child has been in the Air Force for almost five years. Thus, I have been paying $837.00 for many years towards the arrears. The good this thing about it is that there is light at the end of the tunnel. My arrears will be paid in full by June 2009. I look forward to that date, if I live long enough.

In the mean-time, I check my state's child support website to see my case payments by month, and it is a pleasure to see the arrears being shaved with each month.

Life had not been very good for me since 1993, when my disability Multiple Sclerosis became secondary progressive. My work as a Federal Government Administrator ended in 1993, so my ex-wife also receives 50% percent of that disability annuity income.

The cold truth of this matter is that she is living in a new home, which sits on property with a waterfront view, and is married to a husband who fairly wealthy, while I had struggled for all of those years to make my court ordered child support payments based of the divorce decree from 1990. I paid when I could, and when I could not afford to pay, I did not.

Fortunately, the DVA saved me by increasing my disablity compensation a few years ago, so the deductions from my other sources of income no longer have a significant impact on my daily living standard.

After being divorced for so long, I decided that marriage would never be a part of my life again. The pain was too great. I love my children (now young adults) and I loved my wife at the time she decided to divorce me in the 1990s, but that is, "water under the bridge."

Peace be with you and yours,

famous