You are here

BM totally blindsided DH with lawsuit

rebecca1980's picture

I can't believe my first few posts were about my frustration with how BM treats me. What a difference a few days makes! My DH got a letter from BM's lawyer saying she's going to file contempt on him! He has been paying maintenance and child support for 8 years, he's never missed a payment. But the lawyer said there's an error in the filing which means that he owes $78,000. My DH is in shock. I am too. We just shelled out $5000 for a top family law attorney, who said she doesn't stand a chance. It's very upsetting. We have no idea what prompted this.

not2sureimsaneanymore's picture

That's... not possible... is it? You can't file contempt for an error in filing and then ask for back CS. Especially if it was done through legal channels. You can ask for a modification based on the fact that new information came up that there was an error. Because I'd head straight back at my lawyer and BM's lawyer during that filing period and sue them for the 78 grand that they caused me to have to shell out now.

What backwards state are you in that would allow this? 'cause we'd be sueing BM for contempt for lying about the daycare costs and getting back money DH gave towards it.

misSTEP's picture

I kind of had a similar situation from the BM perspective. Because of a clerical error in MY state, HIS state only went after him for current CS and not arrears. When the error was found out, his state would not do anything about it because of their law.

My state's lawyer ended up writing up a proposal with a low-ball amount (IMHO) for arrears. Surprisingly enough, the NCP signed it. I think he knew if it went to court, it would be a much higher number. His lawyer must not have realized that, legally, our hands were tied.

In your situation, if it is just a threatening letter, do nothing.

Peridwen's picture

BM pulled the same crap here during the custody dispute. Threatening letter with a "generous" offer to forgo court proceedings if he agreed to $x more child support per month. DH handed it off to his lawyer who laughed, then called him back after she ran the numbers to point out she had found several anomalies in BM's original documents, such as BM going from a sales commission based pay on joint taxes to "receptionist" with no commission making less base pay at BMDaddy's company at the time of the divorce. DH's lawyer told DH to completely ignore the letter and that if BM pushed it forward then DH would be able to go after her for fraud.

DH ignored the letter and it never came up again. Even when the new child support was calculated BM never brought up DH's supposed arrears.

rebecca1980's picture

Thanks for all the reassurances, everybody. My DH's attorney thinks he has a good case. He's been paying the court-directed child support all this time. It's just so weird that this came out of left field. They didn't even have lawyers for their divorce! Also, BM called me. I'll save that for another post.