first off i'll say that this is my husband's issue, but i'm kind of freaking out, so i'm trying to get some answers...
my husband and his ex wife got divorced in 2007 in the state of west virginia. child support was ordered for his two daughters in the amount of $890/month. (ill add that even before the c.s. was ordered, he was giving his ex money to support his child, that was proven, and no back child support was ordered). The court did not order the child support to be paid through an agency (why, i don't know) so since day 1, the support was being paid from my husband to her. my husband is in the military and in march of '08 before going to iraq, he set up an allotment to be paid to her monthly.
we now live in california (because of the military) and his ex (who married the military man she was having an affair with) lives in texas. while on deployment just a few weeks ago (he's been home less than 2 weeks), he received letters from the state of texas saying that his ex had requested the child support be paid through the state of texas. fine, no big deal. i, personally would rather it be done that way anyways. however, the state of texas contacted the state of west virginia, whom reported having no record of child support ever being paid (because it was paid from my husband to his ex...no middle man). so, the state of texas has said that because they have no record of c.s. being paid, my husband owes a little over $27,000 in back child support. my husband got home from deployment, called the state and texas (and the ex) and they informed him that his ex wants the c.s. to go through texas and that this was all just a part of their investigation to get things up to date in their records. they told him to prove every payment that he has made, type up an afidavid (sp?) and have it notorized. he did this on monday (yesterday) with the help of navy legal. last friday, however, we received a letter from texas stating that they were informing (with a court order) the navy to garnish my husband's wages an extra $300/month to get the back child support up to date (which he doesn't owe). (ill add that the ex is not contesting that he owe back child support, she has just made it clear that she wants the support raised).
navy legal says that he just has to fight the state of texas (which we cannot afford an atty) and to contact dfas which is the dept that does the payroll. dfas says that they have to comply with a court order, but he would be notified first.
again, he mailed the paperwork on monday and it is supposed to get to the state of texas tomorrow (wed). but, we just received an email stating that the garnishment of the extra $300 + $890 went through.
this all happened in less than 30 days....
my question is, how can the state of texas do this? especially if my husband has proof of all of his payments? how do they have jurisdiction? shouldn't there have been time for my husband to contest was he was being accused of?
i am really worried about our finances now because things were already tight. for the record, im not in any way saying my husband should not be paying child support. those are his children and he absolutely should be helping, however, how is it fair that his ex will now be getting and extra $300 a month that he doesn't even owe her? is there anything we can do without having to come up with the money to pay an attorney and fly to texas for court hearing after court hearing?
i will add that the state of texas said that once they receive his afidavit, they have to wait on one from the ex....which she is telling my husband she refuses to do because its "not her problem." so, if she doesn't send in an afidavit, theres nothing we can do? he'll just be paying out almost $1200/month in c.s.?
i know i've said "we" a lot and i understand i technically/legally have nothing to do with it, but its my finances too. we have two children to take care of....
any help is greatly appreciated...
thank you
my husband and his ex wife got divorced in 2007 in the state of west virginia. child support was ordered for his two daughters in the amount of $890/month. (ill add that even before the c.s. was ordered, he was giving his ex money to support his child, that was proven, and no back child support was ordered). The court did not order the child support to be paid through an agency (why, i don't know) so since day 1, the support was being paid from my husband to her. my husband is in the military and in march of '08 before going to iraq, he set up an allotment to be paid to her monthly.
we now live in california (because of the military) and his ex (who married the military man she was having an affair with) lives in texas. while on deployment just a few weeks ago (he's been home less than 2 weeks), he received letters from the state of texas saying that his ex had requested the child support be paid through the state of texas. fine, no big deal. i, personally would rather it be done that way anyways. however, the state of texas contacted the state of west virginia, whom reported having no record of child support ever being paid (because it was paid from my husband to his ex...no middle man). so, the state of texas has said that because they have no record of c.s. being paid, my husband owes a little over $27,000 in back child support. my husband got home from deployment, called the state and texas (and the ex) and they informed him that his ex wants the c.s. to go through texas and that this was all just a part of their investigation to get things up to date in their records. they told him to prove every payment that he has made, type up an afidavid (sp?) and have it notorized. he did this on monday (yesterday) with the help of navy legal. last friday, however, we received a letter from texas stating that they were informing (with a court order) the navy to garnish my husband's wages an extra $300/month to get the back child support up to date (which he doesn't owe). (ill add that the ex is not contesting that he owe back child support, she has just made it clear that she wants the support raised).
navy legal says that he just has to fight the state of texas (which we cannot afford an atty) and to contact dfas which is the dept that does the payroll. dfas says that they have to comply with a court order, but he would be notified first.
again, he mailed the paperwork on monday and it is supposed to get to the state of texas tomorrow (wed). but, we just received an email stating that the garnishment of the extra $300 + $890 went through.
this all happened in less than 30 days....
my question is, how can the state of texas do this? especially if my husband has proof of all of his payments? how do they have jurisdiction? shouldn't there have been time for my husband to contest was he was being accused of?
i am really worried about our finances now because things were already tight. for the record, im not in any way saying my husband should not be paying child support. those are his children and he absolutely should be helping, however, how is it fair that his ex will now be getting and extra $300 a month that he doesn't even owe her? is there anything we can do without having to come up with the money to pay an attorney and fly to texas for court hearing after court hearing?
i will add that the state of texas said that once they receive his afidavit, they have to wait on one from the ex....which she is telling my husband she refuses to do because its "not her problem." so, if she doesn't send in an afidavit, theres nothing we can do? he'll just be paying out almost $1200/month in c.s.?
i know i've said "we" a lot and i understand i technically/legally have nothing to do with it, but its my finances too. we have two children to take care of....
any help is greatly appreciated...
thank you
