Family and Business Attorneys
Houston Relationship Therapist Gina Gheller interviews our attorney Bob Kalish about divorce dos and don'ts. Topics discussed include: Is property always divided equally? What if one spouse stays home to care for the children? What if one spouse puts another through school? How can a therapist help? What not to discuss with the children, Learning to communicate with your ex.
The Texas Attorney General Child Support Division exists to collect child support for Texas children. Child support evaders who go "underground" to avoid making child support payments may find their photos and descriptions on the Texas Attorney General website. The Evaders program asks for help in finding these child support evaders and features a toll-free number to call with information.
Other consequences of non-payment of child support can include:1. felony criminal prosecution and jail in some cases
2. confiscation of tax refund
3. inability to renew Texas Driver's License
4. inability to renew passport or negative effect on immigration status
5. civil warrants and lawsuits
6. liens against property
7. loss of respect
Orders to pay child support are valid and should not be ignored. The moral obligation to support a child should be enough but everyone should be aware that there are very serious legal consequences as well.
Kalish Law Office, The Woodlands, Texas "Passionate, Professional and Personal. We Make the Difference." Since 1984
Last time, we discussed child support/visitation contempt and enforcement suits from the point-of-view of the filing party. This time we will present the other perspective.
If you are served with this type of suit, first of all, remain calm. DO NOT call, email or write your ex in anger. This can come back to haunt you later on.
Secondly, read the suit and the allegations very carefully. Do they have ANY merit at all? Go through each allegation one at a time, carefully. Make a separate list with your response to each allegation.
If you have evidence that the allegations are untrue, get your proof together. Proof of child support that you have paid would include a print-out from the Texas Attorney General Child Support Division and cancelled checks. . Depending on the allegations, you may also need to gather proof of payment of medical bills or insurance premiums, copies of insurance policies, proof of delivery of certified mail or email delivery confirmation.
For disputes involving visitation, calendars, diaries, dated photos and other evidence may be helpful.
Although it is difficult to keep emotions out of the situation, don’t let your emotions make the situation worse. You do not want to engage in a bitter fight, which can be expensive, upsetting (especially to the children) and bring up a lot of old emotional baggage.
Be sure to respond properly and on time by filing a proper answer. DO NOT IGNORE the suit. If you do, a judgment can be taken against you.
Read all the papers that are included. The citation will tell you when your response is due and there may be additional papers which give you information about the scheduling of the case or state a requirement for mediation.
A child support attorney can assist you with understanding the law relating to enforcement and contempt actions, can defend you in the suit and help you understand your legal rights.
Kalish Law Office www.kalishlawtexas.com
What is contempt?
Contempt is an action that can be used by the court to enforce an order, or to punish disobedience. Contempt can be used by the court “on its own” (Judge says, “I am going to find you in contempt for your misbehavior in this courtroom”) or can be requested by a party who files a motion with the court (a parent files a suit against the other parent for non-payment of child support and repeated visitation violations).
I could write for several pages about contempt in general. For this blog post, let’s narrow it down to situations in which contempt is filed by one parent against another.
If you are a party to a court order that is being violated (but not by you!), you may have already wondered about how this works.
Family law contempt cases relating to children typically involve one of the following:
1) A party has not paid child support or medical support as it was ordered in the decree
2) A party is not following the visitation schedule as it was ordered in the decree, especially if access to the children is being withheld.
3) A party is not following restrictions placed upon him/her by court order that involve health or safety of the children (drinking before or during visitation times).
If you want to succeed on a motion for contempt, there are a few things you are going to need:
1) Actual instances of contempt- Filing a motion for contempt with nothing but anger or desire for vengeance to back it up is not going to work for you. You will spend time and money; negatively affect your children, waste court time and anger the judge.
2) Very good records- In a contempt action, you need to have copies of documents that are relevant and support your case, and an accurate list of when contempt occurred. Examples of documents: A certified copy of the final court order that s/he has violated (see our recent blog about how and why to get one of these- June 21, 2011); emails or letters showing your ex’s disregard of the court order, photos, certified mail receipts showing his/her receipt of medical bills that went unpaid, your diary or logs of the months child support was unpaid, a copy of child support payments from the Child Support Division.
3) A healthy attitude- An attitude of hatred or uncontrollable anger that drives the case and comes across to a judge will not help you. An attitude of doing what’s best for your child, keeping your child safe, getting money to help support your child- this will definitely help you.
4) Organization: Here is a tip that can save you time and money: get really organized before you go to an attorney’s office for a consult. Have a list prepared of all the times that the court order has been violated. It is a good idea to keep a journal or computer log that you can enter information into regularly. Have your documents in a folder, organized by date.
A Motion for Contempt is filed along with (and is part of) a “Motion to Enforce”. This means that the judge is asked to enforce the prior order that is not being followed AND is being asked to punish the person who is not following the order by making him/her pay past due child support, if any, pay attorney’s fees, and/or serve jail time. Because the result can be very severe and can result in a loss of a person’s liberty (even for a short time), the standard of proof is strict. The judge may decline to find someone in contempt, but still enforce the order that is requested (such as payment of child support).
A Motion to Enforce can be filed without a Motion for Contempt and very often it is. The enforcement motion filed alone can save legal fees and have the intended result. In cases where a person has to be taken back to court again and again, a Motion for Contempt is more appropriate. It is also appropriate in cases where a party’s misbehavior is so terrible that it is a risk to the health and safety of the child.
A consultation with a family law attorney can help you determine your options and get legal advice to help you protect your legal rights.
Kalish Law Office; The Woodlands, Texas
“Passionate, Professional and Personal. We Make the Difference”
We often hear from parents who want to know if they can still collect child support for their child and would like to have help in understanding the time limits for collection under Texas law.
There are a variety of reasons why someone might wait to collect child support. Here are some of the most common:
Each situation is different, and only you can make the decision as to what is the best thing for you and your family. If you have been waiting until the children were older, time may have gotten away from you. Maybe your children have turned 18 and graduated from high school, so you believe that your chance is gone.
Although this is not an easy area of law to simplify, here are a few general guidelines:
*** Please note, exceptions to these guidelines may exist for children with disabilities, when the court has recognized the disabilities and made an order regarding them.
If you do not know the whereabouts of your children's other parent, an family law attorney can assist you with how to handle that situation.
Special situations exist when an order has been rendered in another state, and one or both parties are now living in Texas. Cases involving multiple states can be complicated, but resolvable.
A consultation with a Texas child support attorney can help you understand your rights, and decide what is best for you and your family. The attorneys at Kalish Law Office have been representing clients in child support cases since 1984.
Kalish Law Office: "Passionate, Professional and Personal" Since 1984 281-363-3700 www.kalishlawtexas.com
There are times when a parent may be entitled to collect child support for a child, but still would choose not to do so. Here is a list of the statements that we usually hear:
Texas law requires that both parents of a child support that child. Judges are required under Texas law to consider “best interests of the child.”, so it is unlikely that a judge will allow a parent to get away with no child support, even if all the parties agree.
Even if you are able to adequately support your child now, the court will consider the future needs of the child. The reasoning is this: Even if you don’t want that money, your child can benefit now or later.
It is best to try to remove your personal feelings from child support decisions. Try to look at it as a “business decision”, not as a sign of weakness or a punishment to either party. Your attorney can assist you in deciding what is reasonable.
If your ex is uncooperative and is unemployed, self-employed, or disabled, it may indeed be more difficult to determine income or collect child support and you’ll need to decide what you are willing to do in order to tackle the problem.
If you are able to support your child on your own, one option is to wait until later to pursue unpaid child support, especially if you have legitimate fears about bringing about contact between your child and your ex. When your child is older, your ex may have changed, and may have the desire to be a stable and involved parent. (But understand that you are also taking a risk that your ex may be in worse financial or physical shape later on, making it difficult to get the full amount of support that is owed). If you choose to wait, be sure to save all of your documentation and consult with a child support attorney or Texas attorney general’s office far in advance of the time that your child turns 18 and graduates from high school.
