What can I do if her lawyer won't answer me...

[andagain]

Hi again...

Brief story: My son came to live with me full time 2 years ago. Finally was able to get X to pay support. She recently became unemployed. Does not want to communicate with me, so is doing it through lawyers. I can't afford a lawyer..

So...

I took the advice I received here (and thank you so much for it) and sent her lawyer a faxed letter requesting he send all correspondence to me and not to my lawyer. I have received nothing from him.. My X still hasn't paid me for February. I'm going to the courthouse on Monday to see if my useless lawyer ever filed the papers we hammered out last summer for the child support she was to pay.. If so, I can just file with the FRO.. But what can I do if the papers were never filed??? Can I somehow file my own motion for support and use the correspondence we had last summer to show she was in agreement? She's been paying for almost a year, so hasn't she set the precedence? or does that even matter? I believe she has to pay something no matter what right?? I really can't afford to go back to my lawyer... It seems she is just not going to pay..

[andagain]

I just found something online that says if the agreement was filed with the courts the FRO would have contacted me. So it doesn't look like the useless lawyer did file it.. Anyone know if this is true..

[Mess]

Yes FRO should have contacted you. When you go to the court house talk to the clerk, confirm if the papers were filed or not, ask for duty counsel and ask how to file them yourself.

[andagain]

Can we file the form 25 the lawyer did up for us but forgot to file? Its not even signed by the lawyers. Or do we have to do up a new filing?

[dadtotheend]

No offence but do you you accept any responsibility for not following up and ensuring those papers were filed?

It's all fine and dandy to blame the "useless" lawyer, but it is your case and your life. Why didn't you make sure they were filed?

[Mess]

Can we file the form 25 the lawyer did up for us but forgot to file? Its not even signed by the lawyers. Or do we have to do up a new filing?

Was it signed by the judge? It doesn't need to be signed by the lawyer, you can sign it, but the point is the judge's signature. Talk to the court clerk and explain what happened.

[andagain]

Firstly, I only put a brief history on here so that the post wasn't 5 pages long. We called and emailed our lawyer repeatedly and RARELY get a call back .. However, when we were billed, we were billed for EVERY time we called, and emailed whether or not we received a reply. We ran out of money to keep calling him. The X was paying support based on the unsigned agreement, we couldn't afford to continue calling the lawyer, REALLY couldn't afford to get a new one and start the whole process over again. We planned on following up and getting a copy when we could afford to do so.

I'm simply looking for some advice to fix the problem. Obviously I realize we should have bit the bullet and found another lawyer and spent another fortune, but because we didn't I'm looking to find out what I can do by myself without getting a lawyer.

[andagain]

So, I'm just trying to find out what I do to fix the problem. The last correspondence from my lawyer was a copy of the Form 25 in FINAL form which he was sending to her lawyer. Everything had been agreed upon. If he didn't get around to filing the papers, or sending them to her lawyer, can I just file these? or do I have to send them to her lawyer first..etc..??

[Mess]

It sounds like this was a consent order, both sides agree and the judge signs. Your lawyer was supposed to write it up and then both sides approve. If so good luck getting her approval at this point.

Take it to the court house, show it to the clerk and then ask to speak to duty counsel.

[representingself]

She always paid according to the agreement, while she was employed.

She recently lost her job, and she has missed one payment.

Before you get your boxers in a knot... you should at least give her the opportunity to re-establish employment.

Seriously, how is she supposed to pay if she has no money?

More importantly... your CS amount should have been based on her income... now that she is no longer employed, she has experienced a "material change" in circumstances...

As soon as you try to get the courts involved, she will most likely file a Motion to Change, and the CS amount could be changed... to a much lower amount than what you have been getting.

Why don't you try sending her an email and request a status update?

[HammerDad]

Agreements (or domestic contracts) entered into outside of court, and then filed with the courts are not automatically registered with FRO upon filing with the courts. In these instances you must elect to register with FRO.

Your lawyer would not be responsible for determining whether or not you would like to elect to register with FRO, you would have to instructed them to do so.

Here is the link:

Registering a domestic contract | Ministry of Community and Social Services

[andagain]

We have made all attempts to call her and find out what is going on. We are getting second hand information from my Son. She just says she wants to keep it through the lawyers. I can't afford that and her lawyer won't answer me. We have no idea if she is back working again, if she's planning on going back to work (my son told me she said she may take some time off).

[tugofwar]

Were you issued a support deduction order? (SDO) if so at the time you were preparing the settled matters you would have filled out a form that the FRO be involved.
Go to the courthouse, get whatever you can copied and do it yourself. Hopefully there are orders there. I went down myself to get a copy of the SDO order, filled out the paperwork and information package and faxed it directly to the FRO.
It takes months before anything happens but my guess is you didn't sign consent to use the FRO.
Go to the FRO website. I think as long as there is some form of paperwork filled out with the courts regarding support you should be able to use the FRO.