Legal Question in Family Law in California

I live in CA.

Me and soon to be my ex has 2 kids. we have a court order to pay 50-50 for child care and health insurance. I have full custody of the children. for the past 6 month I have been paying the child care and health insurance payment and I have been sending him/his lawyer the reciepts every month so that he reimburses me.

At the begining the lawyer said he does not belive the reciepts so I send him the bank statments ... and then he said that his client does not afford the 50-50 , that I have to sit with them and make a deal to a lesser amount. I said "NO". When I send the next month reciepts the lawyer reminding him that his client still not paid me , he said that there is the amount I owed him money 50% that he paid for IRS from our tax return last year and the cell phone bill he paid after our separation. our divorce still in process, We have property division settlement conference scheduled.

I filed contempt of the court order and the hearing date is coming up , Since I do not have a lawyer

His lawyer filed a motion to change the child support amount few days before I filled contempt of court order. but the hearing is infront of different judge and the contempt of court order hearing date if first.

My questing is

1.) Can he use the amount he paid for IRS , and the phone bill he paid as an excuse for not paying / reimbursing me ? I responded to his lawyer saying that regarding the IRS , those calculation comes in property division ... there is also some payments I made after our separation , I am not asking now. Regarding the phone bill I said the amount he is asking is not right , please send the bull but so far I have not recieved.

2.) I don't have a lawyer , how can I stand in the court by myself against a lawyer

Any advice is appreciated

Stressed


Asked on 12/08/12, 8:17 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You need to get a lawyer. In over 25 years of practice I have never once seen a lay person go up against a lawyer and get any result but the lay person creamed. If you're X2B can afford a lawyer, you should be able to, since you can both use community assets for it, and if he has substantially higher income or separate property assets, he can be ordered to pay some or all of your fees.

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Answered on 12/09/12, 11:40 am


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