Our quandry - all help and opinions are requested!
I have been visiting this site for months, and know there is a wealth of experience and expertise here, and we very much require both.
My partner pays spousal support to his ex-spouse, based on a settlement negotiated 'during' their settlement conference (i.e. with much assistance from the judge)
The agreement was reached in May of 2006 - we have just been told she is expecting a new baby in January of 2007. The father of that baby is planning to move into her home in the near future. One of the conditions that triggers a review of spousal support is that she live with another person for a period of 120 days.
My partner simply cannot afford to pay a lawyer out of the remainder of his income, legal bills to reach settlement were over 20,000 (she obtained legal aid for the settlement negotiations) - because there is no out of pocket expense to her, she has refused to be reasonable, and has forced many delays. We will therefore be self-represented for the review.
We have searched previous cases, and believe he has a case for a reduction or cessation of spousal support on many fronts.
1) In the time period since seperation she has made NO attempts to become self-sufficient (this is written into the agreement)
2) Now with being pregnant, she is unlikely to obtain full-time employment within the next 2 years.
3) She is in a relationship of some permanance with her new boyfriend (over a year, expecting a child), making him now 'obligated' to support her.
4) She has grossly exaggerated her expenses in order to appear to have greater needs.
5) We have custody of the children 46% of the time.
6) Spousal support was to terminate immediately if she reached a specified income threshold, and her boyfriend earns well over that threshold, effectively raising her household income past the agreed upon 'saturation point'.
7) With just her child support and part-time income (currently works 1 day a week) her expenses are easily met, save the gross exaggerations - i.e. hundreds of dollars a month for extra-curricular activites for the children, when they participate in NONE!!
8) Both children are in school at least part-time now - which was not the case previously.
Here are the questions we have currently:
Also wondering if anyone knows for sure what process we will have to follow? i.e. do we just file a motion - requesting review? If so, can we present her/her counsel with an offer to reduce rather than terminate prior to doing so? If we can present such an offer, can we make it part of our proceedings if we have to file a motion?
Some other key factors:
She was always employed at least part-time, except for the last year of a 7 year common law relationship.
She is under 30 years of age, and in good health.
During the relationship, he paid tuition/childcare/expenses for her to become trained in a fairly lucrative field, however, she failed the certification exam and has not re-taken it (to our knowledge).
We have offered, and continue to offer to have the children more of the time, or on a different schedule to allow her more flexibilty to work/attend school, she refuses to do either.
Sorry for all the questions ... this is all so complicated ... and thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
I have been visiting this site for months, and know there is a wealth of experience and expertise here, and we very much require both.
My partner pays spousal support to his ex-spouse, based on a settlement negotiated 'during' their settlement conference (i.e. with much assistance from the judge)
The agreement was reached in May of 2006 - we have just been told she is expecting a new baby in January of 2007. The father of that baby is planning to move into her home in the near future. One of the conditions that triggers a review of spousal support is that she live with another person for a period of 120 days.
My partner simply cannot afford to pay a lawyer out of the remainder of his income, legal bills to reach settlement were over 20,000 (she obtained legal aid for the settlement negotiations) - because there is no out of pocket expense to her, she has refused to be reasonable, and has forced many delays. We will therefore be self-represented for the review.
We have searched previous cases, and believe he has a case for a reduction or cessation of spousal support on many fronts.
1) In the time period since seperation she has made NO attempts to become self-sufficient (this is written into the agreement)
2) Now with being pregnant, she is unlikely to obtain full-time employment within the next 2 years.
3) She is in a relationship of some permanance with her new boyfriend (over a year, expecting a child), making him now 'obligated' to support her.
4) She has grossly exaggerated her expenses in order to appear to have greater needs.
5) We have custody of the children 46% of the time.
6) Spousal support was to terminate immediately if she reached a specified income threshold, and her boyfriend earns well over that threshold, effectively raising her household income past the agreed upon 'saturation point'.
7) With just her child support and part-time income (currently works 1 day a week) her expenses are easily met, save the gross exaggerations - i.e. hundreds of dollars a month for extra-curricular activites for the children, when they participate in NONE!!
8) Both children are in school at least part-time now - which was not the case previously.
Here are the questions we have currently:
- Is it best to mention all/most of the above points when presenting the request for reduction/elimination of support?
- Is it wise or worthwhile to bring up the fact that she was indeed already expecting, and likely planning to co-habitate with someone else when she signed the agreement, essentially lying by omission?
- And last, of course, based on your experiences and readings, what are the odds of reducing or eliminating support in this type of situation?
Also wondering if anyone knows for sure what process we will have to follow? i.e. do we just file a motion - requesting review? If so, can we present her/her counsel with an offer to reduce rather than terminate prior to doing so? If we can present such an offer, can we make it part of our proceedings if we have to file a motion?
Some other key factors:
She was always employed at least part-time, except for the last year of a 7 year common law relationship.
She is under 30 years of age, and in good health.
During the relationship, he paid tuition/childcare/expenses for her to become trained in a fairly lucrative field, however, she failed the certification exam and has not re-taken it (to our knowledge).
We have offered, and continue to offer to have the children more of the time, or on a different schedule to allow her more flexibilty to work/attend school, she refuses to do either.
Sorry for all the questions ... this is all so complicated ... and thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
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