My military pay is not much, but I can't afford an attorney

[mgil819676]

Hello. I have a couple of questions and I hope someone knows how to answer them. I have 2 children by my ex who's ages are 20 and 18. my child support suppose to terminate when they turned 18. I have been paying the back child support for my oldest son for 2yrs and my daughter just turned 18 in July, but unfortunately she passed in a car accident a couple of weeks ago. I have been trying to contact my caseworker for my case in the state of Arkansas with no avail. I have written the governors office trying to inquire and still gotten no answer on my balance. I've been trying to have the account audited for the past two years with no answer. When my daughter passed my ex-wife didn't have any life insurance on her and my policy only pays with receipt of a death certificate, so I had to pay the expenses out of my pocket , which totalled over $8000 dollars. My question for this forum is does anyone know who I can contact to find out how much I owe and what steps can I do to have the funeral expenses tacked on to the account, because I had to pay it out of my pocket and basically I just need to know how much i owe since I want to add some closure to this event and move on and my state is not helping me at all and I don't have to the finances to hire an attorney. My military pay is not much, but I can't afford an attorney and I am hoping this forum can give me the answers I need in order to solve this situation. Thanks for your time and I hope I can get some positive feedback on this.

You hope to receive POSITIVE feedback? Wow, you act like just because your daughter died that you should get a free ride. I know there are going to be people that disagree with me on this, but do not really care. Back child support is just what it says. You did not support her while she was a minor, so you are repaying from when you was "taking a break.." from supporting your child. You want closure from paying the mother of your children? Your daughter died, which is very tragic, but even if you had paid all your CS and was up to date when she passed, you would have still probably had to pay the funeral bill. Thats just sad that you want that money that you paid to come off your SEPARATE obligation. CS agency are probably not going to take that money off. You should have paid it on time and you wouldnt be in arrears.

Death Certificates are a matter of public record in my state, go down to the place where you get birth certificates and they should be able to point you in the right direction to receive the death Certificate.

Go above your case workers head and talk to her supervisor. They should do a audit at least once every 2 years.

That's incorrect, actually. The child has died. There is no child support now owing no matter how much in arrears. This is because child support goes for the child's upbringing, not to the mother for her living expenses.

Pay the funeral bill. It's the least you can do for your daughter. Get your child support enforcement repealed. It would only be going to the mother at this point and she does not need in any longer.

[Gbyte]

The arrears are for when the child WAS alive and are still owed to the custodial parent.

Wrong.

Gbyte is right on this. The money is just like an old debt. It DOES NOT go away.

So what you are saying is that he does not owe her the back child support? Wrong, he does. She paid for the childs up bringing while he was out being a "dead beat dad". He owes her this reinbursment for what she had to pay out for the childs upbringing when he wasnt paying her what he was supposed to.

I guess the best answer is for the man to consult an attorney and find out. The money is supposed to go to the child. The child is now deceased. This means that any arrears would be treated as an alimony of sorts for the mother, which is not what it's intended for. The mother cannot use the money for the benefit of her child any longer, as she's dead.

OP, consult an attorney.

Reimbursement... LOL

Child support is not "owed" to the other parent. It's "owed" to the child, for the benefit of the child.

That's right. He does not "owe" the mother money. He has a financial obligation to his children. Besides which, he stated he's paying back child support for his son. Not his daughter. Read the original post again, more carefully this time.

[Gbyte]

The money is indeed OWED to the other PARENT. If he's behind on one child...it makes sense that he's behind on the other. He doesn't seem to know his balance however.

He does need to get an accounting of his arrears. I can log into a website and track arrears when my ex was in arrears. Call the child support agency and ask a caseworker. If you can't contact a case worker...ask for a supervisor. Call everyday until you get an answer.

You probably also need to file a form to have child support stopped. Keep working it.