Should I wait? Ex not paying CS after hearing.

[Linear]

The X and I recently attended a 1 day hearing regarding CS variation. Our current order has been in place nearly 8 years and X has never missed a CS payment. Since the hearing he has not paid any CS (2 payments). He won't respond to any inquiries as to why he's suddenly stopped making CS payments. It seems as though he wants to wait until the judgement comes in before he continues or ceases CS.

Is it best I just wait?

[NBDad]

Did you get the decision regarding the judgement yet? Or are you waiting to hear? If he's not paying, then you should prob file with FRO after you get the new order.

[Linear]

NBDad,

The decision has not come in yet. Hearing was 1 month ago - we could have the decision any day or it could be another month or more. He's missed 2 bi-weekly CS payments and won't provide any explanation. The only explanation provided so far far when asked if he was aware his CS was late was "I know, I have a calendar". Nothing since ...

[hadenough]

The original agreement is not filed with the FRO?

If not, I think you will have to wait - then as NBdad said - file it once you recv it.
Either way - he is accumulating arrears. Is the new CS order for more money - or less?

Great answer - "I have a Calendar." Sounds like he needs a calculator too.

[Linear]

hadenough,

The original agreement has never been filed with any enforcement entity. There has never been an issue receiving CS from him (8 years) until just after our hearing. Until the decision of the variation hearing comes out we have no idea what the CS payments will be. My understanding is that our current agreement, our Divorce Order, remains valid until the judge releases their decision regarding the variation hearing.

[Linear]

A couple more emails went unanswered, although he did ask about our daughter's dental claim and when he can expect his money.

I guess if he doesn't pay his CS tomorrow when he drops the children off I'll have to register the current order for enforcement.

[billm]

Well, he obviously has a reason for not paying. Are you sure you don't know what his thinking is on this?

Before registering with the FRO, I would tell him that you will be doing so with the current one and the next court order, unless he starts to talk about this.

I think most people would like to avoid the FRO.

[HammerDad]

What was the reasoning for the motion for variation of cs?

[Teenwolf]

hadenough,

The original agreement has never been filed with any enforcement entity. There has never been an issue receiving CS from him (8 years) until just after our hearing. Until the decision of the variation hearing comes out we have no idea what the CS payments will be. My understanding is that our current agreement, our Divorce Order, remains valid until the judge releases their decision regarding the variation hearing.

It sounds like he's holding out for the judge's decision. Like you said, you have no idea what the new CS will be. And it'll likely be backdated to the court application date (or more, depending on what was asked for). Is the variation application seeking a reduced amount? If so, that's probably why he's holding back on payments. However, as you pointed out, your current order is in effect until the judge issues a variation order, so he should stick with his current payment plan until ordered to do otherwise.

[Linear]

billm,

He's a very high conflict individual, I can only assume he didn't like the questions asked of him and his business during the hearing - the judge was not very impressed with him and he wasn't a very happy camper afterwards or since. I'd love to hear how he justifies not paying CS, unfortunately he won't respond. He'll answer any other question except for why he's suddenly stopped paying the CS. I think you're right about letting him know about the FRO before making the application - I wonder how mixed up things might get in registering an 8 year old order only to deal with a new order in the next few months. His CS doesn't hurt us financially, so there's no emergency.

HammerDad,

The reason for the variation hearing was that after 8 years he's much better off financially than when we were together and the last order was when the children were very young. He responded to the motion for a CS variation with a motion for shared access which was agreed to after involving a child psyc who offered suggestions as to how to successfully engage a 50/50 routine with minimal impact on the children's relationship with their younger half sister. The 50/50 access will be part of the new order.

TeenWolf,

The original application was for an increase in CS by me. It was countered with an application for shared access which I've described above. The new CS order may be the same, less or possibly more depending on how the judge imputes his income (self-employed).

So in the meantime he's simply stopped paying anything and won't give me a reason why.

[Teenwolf]

Well, only he really knows why he's behaving the way he is, but it sounds like he's pissed off. I still think he's hoping for a reduced CS amount and he's holding out in order to not overpay. Based on what you say, he may very well have a higher CS amount, but the 50/50 access will result in the offset method, which may make his CS payment lower than what he currently pays. Hard to say without all the numbers, but it seems like a logical reason to explain his sudden stoppage of CS when he previously had an excellent payment history.

With this said, he can't unilaterally decide to stop paying CS. Like others have suggested here, you should tell him that you'll register with FRO, if he doesn't smarten up.

[Linear]

I spoke to a lawyer today. Because of the conflict between he and I it was advised that I no longer contact him as I have already done so numerous times. On Monday I'll file a Motion myself to have him pay the arrears. Also on Monday I will notify his lawyer of the situation and that I have a filed a Motion. I will advise his lawyer that if the matter proceeds to court I will hire a lawyer to argue the case and will be seeking costs.

I'm hoping once his lawyer has a chat with him he'll see the light and understand that he's still under a current and valid order for CS and that might only change when the new order/decision comes out.

And here I thought I'd never have to write another Affidavit!

[standing on the sidelines]

billm,


The reason for the variation hearing was that after 8 years he's much better off financially than when we were together and the last order was when the children were very young. He responded to the motion for a CS variation with a motion for shared access which was agreed to after involving a child psyc who offered suggestions as to how to successfully engage a 50/50 routine with minimal impact on the children's relationship with their younger half sister. The 50/50 access will be part of the new order.

TeenWolf,

The original application was for an increase in CS by me. It was countered with an application for shared access which I've described above. The new CS order may be the same, less or possibly more depending on how the judge imputes his income (self-employed).

So in the meantime he's simply stopped paying anything and won't give me a reason why.

Have you started to work towards the 50/50 or waiting till the new order is in effect? If you havent then maybe his reasoning is that he is not going to pay anything until the new order is done.

[Linear]

standing on the sidelines,

We're not able to implement the 50/50 right away as he is self-employed (travels) and needs to vary his schedule to accommodate the new schedule. He can possibly do this before the decision comes out but since he's so high conflict I wonder how we would handle the CS prior to a decision, he's claiming a $3500/yr income (No, I didn't forget a zero, and I make 36k) and now wants CS from me, the CS variation I filed seeks an imputation to him of over 60k (which I had a pretty well presented case for the imputation i.e. he pays his employee 60k to do the same job as him and his wife earns 60k doing the same job as he does). If he can get his schedule worked out and wants to use the offset of his currently imputed income (49k) from 8 years ago that would be fine with me.

[Linear]

Seems I forgot to add in the original post, he's also not been paying his share of daycare along with the CS.