Basic divorce misses the big picture
My ex and I were divorced four years ago in another state. We represented ourselves and missed some important things. Our judgment merely divorces us because neither of us knew to ask for property division, custody or child support. We had agreed on those, so we thought we didn’t have to ask the judge.
A year after the divorce, I married my current husband and we moved to Massachusetts. My ex moved to Colorado. We sold the house and split the proceeds equally when I moved, but he didn’t pay taxes on his share of the gain. He now has some IRS trouble for that and some other things. He claims he owes so much to the IRS that he can’t send me any money for our kids any longer and stopped paying in November.
I need the money to help support our kids — the $500 per month he
paid covered their activities and braces. The court made it all sound complicated when I asked how to make him pay. What should I do?
You cannot file a contempt for nonpayment of child support that was purely voluntary. You also don’t have a judgment awarding you custody of your children. You should file a complaint for custody with a request that child support be established. Where this was not done during the divorce, it can be done now. Also prepare a motion for temporary orders asking the court to establish child support and a parenting plan. Serve it all on him at the same time to expedite your hearing date.
You will need to prepare a financial statement, as will he, so the judge can set child support. You can ask him to stipulate to a parenting plan ahead of time if your current division of time is working in an effort to limit the issues for the judge. Then, once you have an order, you can ask your ex to agree to make it permanent. If he agrees, prepare a stipulation for judgment adopting the temporary order.
In the meantime, you should also register your divorce judgment by sending a letter of transmittal to the court registry along with a certified copy of the judgment and one other copy. Be sure to include your names and addresses. This will allow the judge to understand why you are now filing a complaint for custody.
Finally, you may also want to file a complaint in equity to confirm that there will be no further property division or alimony between you and your ex. If he gets desperate enough with his IRS troubles and sees what you are doing on the child support piece, he could bring an action for property division and/or alimony. If he objects to jurisdiction, you may have to file for the property division/alimony in the state where you were divorced.
This isn’t a case of the court making it sound complicated, it is complicated.