I think I might have opened a can of worms for my brother (
Background:
Brother & ex married 17 yrs. 2 kids. Boy (15) & Girl (16). Brother left the marriage in May 2011. By October 2011 they managed to hammer out a Separation Agreement that was reviewed & witnessed by lawyers and filed with the courts.
He makes $80,000, She makes $40,000
Upon signing, she got $125,000 bank draft for equalization re: the house, debts, etc ... and my brother refinanced the mortgage so he could stay in the house.
Original agreement states Joint Custody with boy living with my brother (primary) & seeing mom EOW and girl lives 50/50 with mom & my bro (no primary listed). Section 7 expenses capped at $5,000/yr per child & my brother pays 65%
Brother pays $120/mo in offset CS and $250/mo for 7 yrs in SS
Fast forward to November (the ink wasn't even dry yet) ... daughter decides to move in with dad and does so ... my brother now has both kids full-time ... & kids' are pretty much estranged from mom (whole other sad, long story).
In February 2012, brother asks daughter what her intentions are and if she plans on eventually going back to mom's ... she states she wants to remain with dad so my brother emailed ex and asked about 1) stopping paying the $120/mo CS and 2) getting CS for the 2 kids who now reside full-time with him.
Answer was "we have a court order so no you cannot stop paying and I can't afford to pay you child support"
He asked me what to do so I told him he'd need to file a Motion or Application. That was done and served on her in March. It's asking that his CS responsibility be terminated and that she be ordered to pay guideline CS as well as addressing that daughter is now living F/T with him.
She has come back with ... "if you continue with this I am going to ask the courts to increase my SS payments so you might as well drop this whole thing."
My brother & I realize that according to My Support Calculator he is paying low SS but that is because his lawyer advised him that in all fact she might not even be "entitled" to SS, however they could end up wasting tens of thousands of dollars fighting it in court so if they could come to an agreement themselves, they would be far better off and that is what they managed to do.
She's pulling this strictly because she doesn't want to pay CS. So if he drops the court proceedings she'll leave SS alone, if he continues and she is ordered to pay CS then she plans on going after more SS.
Will the judge see through the game?
What advice can you give him?
TIA (& I apologize for the length but wanted to give as much detail as I could)
Background:
Brother & ex married 17 yrs. 2 kids. Boy (15) & Girl (16). Brother left the marriage in May 2011. By October 2011 they managed to hammer out a Separation Agreement that was reviewed & witnessed by lawyers and filed with the courts.
He makes $80,000, She makes $40,000
Upon signing, she got $125,000 bank draft for equalization re: the house, debts, etc ... and my brother refinanced the mortgage so he could stay in the house.
Original agreement states Joint Custody with boy living with my brother (primary) & seeing mom EOW and girl lives 50/50 with mom & my bro (no primary listed). Section 7 expenses capped at $5,000/yr per child & my brother pays 65%
Brother pays $120/mo in offset CS and $250/mo for 7 yrs in SS
Fast forward to November (the ink wasn't even dry yet) ... daughter decides to move in with dad and does so ... my brother now has both kids full-time ... & kids' are pretty much estranged from mom (whole other sad, long story).
In February 2012, brother asks daughter what her intentions are and if she plans on eventually going back to mom's ... she states she wants to remain with dad so my brother emailed ex and asked about 1) stopping paying the $120/mo CS and 2) getting CS for the 2 kids who now reside full-time with him.
Answer was "we have a court order so no you cannot stop paying and I can't afford to pay you child support"
He asked me what to do so I told him he'd need to file a Motion or Application. That was done and served on her in March. It's asking that his CS responsibility be terminated and that she be ordered to pay guideline CS as well as addressing that daughter is now living F/T with him.
She has come back with ... "if you continue with this I am going to ask the courts to increase my SS payments so you might as well drop this whole thing."
My brother & I realize that according to My Support Calculator he is paying low SS but that is because his lawyer advised him that in all fact she might not even be "entitled" to SS, however they could end up wasting tens of thousands of dollars fighting it in court so if they could come to an agreement themselves, they would be far better off and that is what they managed to do.
She's pulling this strictly because she doesn't want to pay CS. So if he drops the court proceedings she'll leave SS alone, if he continues and she is ordered to pay CS then she plans on going after more SS.
Will the judge see through the game?
What advice can you give him?
TIA (& I apologize for the length but wanted to give as much detail as I could)
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