Legal Question in Family Law in California
A complicated situation..I need advice please
To make a long story short, I am ''friends'' but have never married my child's father. He was recently ordered to pay me $500 a month in child support. He recently lost his job and has asked me to close the child support case so he can keep the money to pay his bills. I am trying to maintain our friendship, but also feel like there has to be a better way. I was thinking should I just write him a check back every month for $500 and have him pay me back later? I think I am screwing myself & my son by allowing my ex to stop paying child support. What should I do? Should I have it in writing that he must pay me back? Should I ''loan'' him the money at all? What are the steps I have to take to even get it in writing and have it be 100% legal? I am okay with loaning him the money--he needs it more than I do but I feel like its not fair to me for him to not pay back. Any advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: A complicated situation..I need advice please
Yes - it would be foolish to loan him the money after you've received it because, among other reasons, it would then be a debt he could discharge in bankruptcy later; whereas, child support arrears are not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
If your primary goal is to give him some temporary relief but to make sure he pays it back later, the simple solution is to allow the arrears to build up ... he will have to pay them eventually. You could also file a Stipulation with the court to reduce the support for now and raise it back later (with or without his agreement) ... of course, this would not require him to pay back the original award.
Re: A complicated situation..I need advice please
The situation is not that complicated. If he is collecting unemployment then he should pay child support based upon his unemployment compensation. If he is not collecting unemployment there are a lot of jobs available to him. Talk to an attorney about the timeshare between the two of you and the income of each of you and he can calculate guideline child support. Good Luck, Pat McCrary
Re: A complicated situation..I need advice please
Do not relieve him of the obligation to pay child support. The child is still alive and is still entitled to the support money. If I don't have income, my kids don't eat. I have to go find another job if I want to feed my kids. Your child's father still has an obligation to help provide for his child's support.
However, if you are in good financial condition and you want to agree to reduce child support until his income goes back up, you can file a stipulation for the judge to sign. But don't eliminate the child support completely.
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