Correct way to pay child support?

[Liverpool4evr]

Thanks guys.

I will call the local clerk of courts tomorrow and see what they say as I called NC this evening and they don't see me in the system yet. I would rather that there is an audit trail as she is the type to receive a check and say she never got it and shred it.

[kidsdadtexas]

Thanks guys.

I will call the local clerk of courts tomorrow and see what they say as I called NC this evening and they don't see me in the system yet. I would rather that there is an audit trail as she is the type to receive a check and say she never got it and shred it.

you mean "spend it"

[Fatheroffour]

I would rather that there is an audit trail as she is the type to receive a check and say she never got it and shred it.

OR, you write and mail a check, on time, every time for years and years. Towards the end of the CS obligation she says you haven't been paying. Whether she does it malice or simple incompetence doesn't matter.

Now unless you can prove every penny paid you will have to pay it again, not to mention the hassle of having to prove it.

Basically, it's good strategy for any evil spirited child support receiver to challenge that they have not been paid fully at some point before the CS obligation ends. If the numbers don't tally for whatever reason (actual nonpayment, accounting error, lost records, fire, war , disease, pestilence) and it comes up short then it must be paid again. If it comes up over.........well, that's a gift and doesn't need to be paid back.

[dadoftwo]

Listen to every word these guys are saying! You have to be really careful about documenting your payments, whether or not you go through a csa. I personally have had bad experiences both ways, but if I had it to do over again, I wish I'd known some things. D10's mother had a case open for me when she was much younger, then closed the case and I paid her directly. My receipts got ruined/lost in a move, and she knew it. She reopened the case, told them I hadn't given her a dime since she'd closed it, and they sent me an arrears bill out of the blue for almost 15000. Never even bothered to ask me if I paid, not that it mattered since I couldn't prove it anyway. I ended up giving her 1500 for her to go tell the judge that I paid her in full. Even then the people from the CSA put up a fight and didn't want the judge to accept that it was paid. Back in court a year and a half later and they tried to bring it up against me again - and all because she lied about it!

About 2 years ago, case at the CSA was closed again, and mommy went to social services to apply for TANF. She told them she didn't even know where I was and that she hadn't seen me for years. They open the support case back up with the CSA and it takes them a few months to "find" me. Then they want me to reimburse them for the TANF money they gave her over those couple of months, and even though I was able to prove that I paid her directly this time, they still took me to court over it. Luckily the judge sided with me and I didn't have to pay it twice.

There were no consequences to her for any of her lies, except that she got another 1500 out of me. Funny how, now that daughter lives with me, nobody is willing to make her give me a dime. Go figure.

Whatever you do, make sure you have iron-clad documentation, be careful that nothing you give her can be misconstrued as a gift, and be careful if she is on any kind of government aid.