heres a question for the lawyerly

[rise]

particulars- (parents never married, location is Ma)
father, 40 year old, disabled since 11/03, non-custodial parent with visitation and joint legal custody
mother, 43 year old accountant, custodial parent, joint legal(duh)
son, 11 year old, well adjusted

background- father filed for disability in 11/03 but was not finally declared disabled until 11/06. during this time, the father could not work so he had his weekly payment reduced from 196/wk to 50/wk, which he paid above and beyond through his savings/401 and loans from his family and/friends.

situation- when father is declared disabled in 11/06, the decision is retro to his intitial application of 11/03 so he receives a fairly large retro check. likewise, his son, who receives ~50% of the fathers benefit, gets a substantial retro check.

the father is now seeking to receive back all the money he paid as child support from 11/03 to 11/06 (~ $20k) as he feels this is double dipping - she has now been fully compensated thru SSDI for that time.

the mother says she should keep the money and put it into a 529 plan. the father says he should get the money pack, pay off the balance of his bills and put the rest in a similar fund, but that he should control the money.

how say you?

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: rise
particulars-
father, 40 year old, disabled since 11/03, non-custodial parent with visitation and joint legal custody
mother, 43 year old accountant, custodial parent, joint legal(duh)
son, 11 year old, well adjusted

background- father filed for disability in 11/03 but was not finally declared disabled until 11/06. during this time, the father could not work so he had his weekly payment reduced from 196/wk to 50/wk, which he paid above and beyond through his savings/401 and loans from his family and/friends.

situation- when father is declared disabled in 11/06, the decision is retro to his intitial application of 11/03 so he receives a fairly large retro check. likewise, his son, who receives ~50% of the fathers benefit, gets a substantial retro check.

the father is now seeking to receive back all the money he paid as child support from 11/03 to 11/06 (~ $20k) as he feels this is double dipping - she has now been fully compensated thru SSDI for that time.

the mother says she should keep the money and put it into a 529 plan. the father says he should get the money pack, pay off the balance of his bills and put the rest in a similar fund, but that he should control the money.

how say you?

More like, how says the family court judge? Since most family/domestic relations law is state law, and you didn't give a state, that's going to be a tough one.

 

[dug777]

I say you should pay a lawyer, mate

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: Mursilis

More like, how says the family court judge? Since most family/domestic relations law is state law, and you didn't give a state, that's going to be a tough one.

yeah, she, the ladt judge, has "taken it under advisement" or whatever means considering the arguments and ruling on it later.

state is Ma, i edited the OP.

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: dug777
I say you should pay a lawyer, mate

nah, i'm just an innocent bystander

or "i was eating pis" lol

 

[allisolm]

The numbers don't add up for me. You say he had his payments reduced from $196 to $50 a week during the 3 years he was disabled but not declared as such. That would have been $7200 in payments, not $20,000.

I have no idea what the laws are regarding this. If you get disability does that absolve you from having to pay child support?

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: allisolm
The numbers don't add up for me. You say he had his payments reduced from $196 to $50 a week during the 3 years he was disabled but not declared as such. That would have been $7200 in payments, not $20,000.

the total he actually paid is 17,400. that included arrears that accumulated @196+/wk during a portion of '04 . not sure how long it was but at one point he was ~ 7k in arrears. sorry for the confusiing numbers

I have no idea what the laws are regarding this. If you get disability does that absolve you from having to pay child support?

SSDI pays ~50% of the disabled person's benefits directly to the child. the father doesn't have to pay anything else. if/when the father goes back to work, obviously ssdi stops and he has to has his child support reviewed.

edit damn, more unclearness. if the father receivfes 1,000/month from ssdi, the child gets 500 in addition to the fathers 1,000.

 

[torpid]

Interesting question. If I had to guess I'd say his case has no merit, because the disability was effective retroactively, implying that he should have skirted all his bills until disability came through. Unfortunately this type of thing is really common with long term disability, from what my financial advisor has told me.

 

[rise]

it is very common for ssdi to take ridiculous lengths of time to approve benefits, usually rubber-stamp denying the first application. it is not common for applicants to be able to skirt their obligations (support, utilities, rent etc) during the appeals process.

 

[allisolm]

Thanks for the clarification.

If the amount of the retroactive payment to the child made the total (retro plus child support actually paid) more than would have been paid had the disability been recognized immediately, then I would think a request to get the excess back would be reasonable. But then, from what I see here, courts and reasonable are not always on speaking terms when it comes to child support issues.

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: allisolm
Thanks for the clarification.

If the amount of the retroactive payment to the child made the total (retro plus child support actually paid) more than would have been paid had the disability been recognized immediately, then I would think a request to get the excess back would be reasonable. But then, from what I see here, courts and reasonable are not always on speaking terms when it comes to child support issues.

also, in case its not clear, the amount the child currently recieves from disability is actually more than what he received when the father was working!

so its not like the retro check was based on $50/wk or something. the child now gets more than the 196/wk.

edit-forgot... you're welcome

 

[rise]

btw, i think the dad will get screwed.

apparently this is not a normal request as the family mediator i was told was a little taken aback. when he clarified what he was saying she said it was a valid point but she had no idea how the judge would rule as she had never seen such a request.

i guess theres the possibility of the father getting some of the money with the balance ordered into a fund but having seen how famiy court works and watching the judges initial reaction/response, i doubt he'll see a dime.

if they give all the money to the mother, how could this guy not be resentful? imo, its pretty black and white that the father is entitled to the money back and while i'm certanly sympathetic to him as a friend, i don't think my judgement is clouded.