Legal Question in Family Law in California
Petitioner and I had a deal that was worked on between our attorneys at a court hearing. The deal, which was recorded by the court at my former attorneys request, stated that I would provide support to Petitioner (a temporary support until our next hearing) in conjuction with Petitioner moving out of the marital residence. The residence is separate property but it is also common sense that I could not afford to pay my expenses (new apartment), the mortgage (Petitioner living rent free) and all the house expenses including paying her support. Petitioner never moved out of the residence and my attorney informed me to stop paying support. In result of doing that, Petitioner filed a wage garnishment order against me. She is also getting welfare for food. Without knowing all the details, it is obvious that my attorney "messed up" without including a move-out date and they found this loophole in our deal. There is no way I could afford to pay all of the above and would never have agreed to that number (even if it was only for 2 months) if Petitioner was going to stay in the house. My plan was to attempt to rent the house out to cover the mortgage (which I have had many offers for) which I can no longer afford to pay.
Is there a family law code that I can use at our hearing next week to contenst this wage garnishment and ask the court remove it? I am happy to pay support but it must be in line with my current wages. If the judge grants support based on guideline I am almost certain the support will be hundreds of dollars less than what our deal was for.
2 Answers from Attorneys
I would never instruct a client to violate a Court order. Then you BOTH are violating the agreement instead of just her. You really need to go in ex parte on the basis that she is violating the agreement, so you need relief from the orders. I would suggest a new attorney. I don't recommend you representing yourself, because it could end up costing you more in the long run. You can't afford to have this case messed up any further, and Lord knows what other potential problems are present already.
I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Ellifritz. Your attorney is an idiot for advising you to stop paying spousal support. You should have modified the order first, or at least brought proceedings to enforce the agreement. She can file an OSC re: contempt now, for your failure to pay.
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