Child Support Modification Question

[Bshelton]

Hello, I have a question regarding modification of my child support...

2 months ago, I lost my job and have had an increasingly hard time trying to pay my child support. My unemployment checks are pretty much going to pay her, and then some. As such, I filed a modification petition 2 weeks ago. I have tried to make this as painless as possible for my ex wife, but she is resisting. She was served the day after I filed the paperwork, and I was told that she has 20 days to respond. As of this posting, we still do not have a court date.

My question is this: Do I have to be current on my child support when we go to court? According to the pamphlet I read (which pointed me to this site), the modification will be effective as of the filing date. If this is true, she will owe me any overages paid to her since that date, correct? If so, she will most certainly drag her feet paying me back. If I pay her a little less until my court date, (thereby allowing me to better pay my bills, and reduce the amount she would eventually have to reimburse me) would the judge hold that against me in any way?

If it matters, my case is based in Lake County, Florida.

[Attorney Howard Iken]

If you do not have the money to live on, and pay her at the same time, you have little down side to not paying her. Or you can reduce what you are paying to the current calculated amount.

[Bshelton]

How do I know what the reduced amount is going to be if I don't have my ex wife's financial information to plug into the Calculator?

[Attorney Howard Iken]

There is no way to know for sure until you get her financial affidavit. You must guesstimate.

[Bshelton]

Thank you very much for your responses, I have just one more question...

I was reading some documentation recently and came upon something that surprised me. Is it true that once my ex-wife submits her paperwork, I have to contact the clerk's office to set a court date for my case?

I would think that this process just automatically moves forward, is this not the case?

[Attorney Howard Iken]

You cannot count on "automatic." That depends on internal mechanisms in the courthouse, and recent budget cuts have eliminated many positions.

You should take control of the situation and manually push your case forward.