Legal Question in Family Law in Arizona

I am having problems with the AZ DES/Child Support. I hope someone might be able to give me some advice. Here's the situation. Both my childrean are now over 19 so I no longer have to pay current support. I was never married, but the mother of my children moved to Missouri and filed for support, which she never told me even though I was sending her money. But I digress. I didn't know for several years that she filed. By the time I did find out, I was very much in debt. I lived in Colorado at the time so I was served with a Colorado Court Order to pay support. I did my best. Then I moved to Arizona. In 2004, I received a notice form the Colorado Courts saying that they had nothing more to do with this case. I never received a Court Order from Arizona, but AZ DES started taking money out of my paychecks. My youngest just turned 19 in April. So, now I'm supposed to be done and have had to call and talk to DES 3 times (once going to the office). Just talked to them today and they still haven't stopped the current child support amount, it should be less as they were taking a chunk for arrears.

The arreas is where I have the problem. I have 3 different amounts being reported to me on how much my arrears are. I requested a review and copy of payments back in December. Went to see them in April and was told another 30 days. I sent a letter back to them saying that the amount was not correct so they wouldn't report it to the Credit Reporting Agencies. I received a letter saying that they would suspend my payments, but they haven't. I talked to my case worker today and she said they can't get any information from Colorado so it will be longer. I feel like my rights are being violated as they can't tell me the true amount I owe!! Do they have a limited time to get this information to me? I feel they are the ones who have to prove that I owe it. Can they just keep taking my money with no proof of how much I owe?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Father in Arreas Distress,

Robert


Asked on 6/07/10, 12:45 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jeff Biddle Biddle Law Firm, PLLC

If your case is in Arizona, I would file a motion to terminate child support. While you still have an arrearage, the motion will cause the payments to credited to arrears and it will force the judge to determine what the exact arrearage is so that you'll have a number that you know you will need to pay. I would assume it is a similar procedure in Colorado, but you should post your question again in Colorado if that is where the child support order is.

Given that all of the kids are adults now, the judge also has the authority to lower the amount being garnished.

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Answered on 6/08/10, 9:35 am


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