Court today, have a question

[buddy13]

Ok, here is the situation, My ex currently pays me half of the cost of carrying the insurance for the kids. This was ordered at the time of our divorce. She has remarried and I have remarried. Her motion states that her current husband carries the kids on his insurance so she feels that she should not have to pay me anymore for carrying the kids on my insurance.

She also claims that since I married in June of this past year and that I now carry family insurance, she should not have to pay me since I have to carry family insurance.

Any thoughts on this that I can take with me to court? She brings her attorney to this and I have none, don't see the sense in spending attorney fees for a mirror 50 dollars a month.

Thanks!

[defaultuser]

I think you've got a couple choices. You could:

A) Ask the court that if she wants them on her insurance, she should do that, but the court will mandate that they be covered by her and not you.

B) Ask the court for an order that states that you both must carry the children on her insurance and no one pays the other.

C) File an answer to her motion, asking the court to deny her argument. If she wants to change who pays who for what and who carries the kids on insurance, she should file a petition for modification because she will be asking the court to modify the decree (not a motion). She'll have to show a substantial change (which I think there has been one) and the attorney fees will be a lot higher on her end. There is a lot more paperwork involved, and you can probably draw it out a couple years without spending a dime if you know what you're doing.

If it were me, I'd go for C. You'd be right legally, and that is all the courts care about...

[buddy13]

but I have court today at 4, so I really don't think C is an option.

[buddy13]

She also has not paid me since June of last year, claiming that she is waiting to see what the judge says. I got married in June so she thinks that she does not have to pay me because I had to have family coverage.

I am assuming that she still does for the past 6 months, correct me if I am wrong.

[defaultuser]

Yeah. You can still do C.

"Your honor, what they are asking for here is a modification to the decree. I motion the court to deny this request as modifications require filing a petition for modification, which has not been done here. Also, I motion that the court order her to pay her arrears as she has not paid me for six months"

You must ask the court for anything you want. If you don't ask, then you don't receive.

[buddy13]

Well, they did a modification to the motion, is this the same? There motion stated something different 3 months ago.

[defaultuser]

Yes, its still the same. They just modified their pleading is all. No big deal.

Look, I may not be correct because I'm no lawyer, but I've dealt with this issue before. You can motion the court for things like enforcement, clarification, contempt, etc. You must file a petition for modification if you want to change something.

If what they did was file a motion, then probably, her lawyer is just trying to pull a fast one here and hoping that because you don't have a lawyer that it can be snuck in, like if you don't object.

This may not work, but its worth reminding the judge that it isn't proper to modify without a petition for modification, because if it does work, she'll have wasted a ton of money and will be back at square 1.

Also, you can try as many arguments as you want. There is nothing wrong saying its not right, and if it is, then it needs to be like this...

[buddy13]

So I need to ask the court that a petition to modify the decree needs to b filed and I have not received any such paperwork. ???

[defaultuser]

Something like that. "Your honor, I don't understand how the decree can be modified like they are asking without a significant change in circumstances and a petition for modification. I would ask that the proper procedures are followed in this case."

[defaultuser]

How did it go?