joanrocco
New Member
My fiancé has 2 children with his ex wife. He has paid $126.32 a week in child support since their separation. His work situation recently changed and his income went way down. When he made a court date to have the child support be reduced, he found out the child support order was never put into effect due to neither him nor his ex going to court the day it was to be made. So, he was paying this money without an order. When he found out that there was no order, he took it upon himself, with advice from the family court, to lower the payments to $75 a week. He came up with this number using the child support law in NY, which was 25% of his new income. Soon after he lowered the child support, his ex made a court date to get more money. So, we went to court and they amazingly sided with her. My fiancé now pays $126.32 a week out of a $300 a week income, which to me is insane. Anyway, the $126.32 order was put back into effect and the judge ordered that he pay for the back support owed, which was during the time he was paying the $75. So, the money owed was over $1,000 according to the child support collection agency, but that was not including the $75 a week he was paying directly to his ex. So, for a while he paid $20 extra a week ($146.32). He took it upon himself to subtract the $75 he had been paying, which had cut the total about in half. So, when he felt he had been paid up, he sent his last extra $20 with copies of all the $75 money orders he had paid showing that he was all caught up. This was months ago and we thought everything was cleared up until he received a letter in the mail stating that he owes over $500 in back support. So, again, he sent the support agency the proof of what he paid and how he owes nothing. So, today we again get a letter saying that they can't count the $75 a week he had been paying because the order was not in effect at the time he was paying it and he still owes this money. In reality, there was NEVER an order in effect until they went back to court. My fiancé just wants to do right by his children, but he feels cheated in this situation. Being that the courts went against the normal guidelines for child support in NY as it is, he just cannot afford this. What he is essentially doing is paying double child support for those 2 months or so. So, I want to know if there is any chance of him getting his money back by taking his ex to small claims court to get all those $75 money orders back, totaling about $500. They would basically be evening the situation out. He would pay the support agency the $500+ dollars for her and she would be giving back that same amount. I know it sounds bad that he wants to sue her for over-paid child support and a lot of people would just say "do it for the kids" but the kids are well taken care of and they know that he is always here if they need anything. His ex's financial situation is more secure than his right now and he really needs this money. Paying $126.32 a week on his income is not easy, this money belongs to him and he needs it. We want to know, before we go to court, if taking this to court would even be worth it. It's no secret that judges tend to lean toward the side of the single mother. Please tell me, if you were in this situation, would you try to get what's rightfully yours?
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