You would think that when a person keeps trying to beat you and they keep losing, that at some point they would quit. I guess some people are just stubborn.
For those of you that have been following for a while and read the posts about the whole child support drama, I never told you the conclusion of the decision that came in the mail.
After 6 months, 5 court dates and a million lies from my husband, the magistrate ordered him to pay $2,500 a month in support of our three oldest children. The payments were supposed to begin November 6, 2009.
Another victory! Right?
The front of the order had information that informed us that if there was an objection to this order it needed to be submitted within 35 days of the date of the order. On December 13, 2009 when I returned home after spending the weekend in NY with family, there was a large manila envelope waiting for me. I didn't recognize the name on the return address, but it was from Queens. When I opened it, there was an objection petition in it along with a transcript of the last support hearing. It was from his newest attorney and the objection was dated December 6th, the 35th day.
This deadbeat had hired and PAID a lawyer to object to paying his children! He wanted the order vacated - thrown out! There is no depth too low for him to sink to. Great, now what?
He had his lawyer object to the order for a number of reasons. They said the magistrate made a number of errors.
1. Error in basing the order on the actual needs of the children and not what he actually wanted to pay.
2. Error in the fact that she judged his income based on what he made during the marriage and not his word, which we know is as good as gold right? According to him, his company hadn't made a dime since the children and I left him.
3. Error in basing the order on three children when in fact we have four. (Still scratching my head on that one. Wouldn't that mean he'd have to pay more for four?)
4. Error in imputing income to him. Why should she do that? Weren't his homemade business documents and hand picked receipts good enough for her? Gosh! Some people are so picky.
And he doesn't have any unreported cash income. Who told her that? His wife wouldn't tell you that and she's the only one who knows. Ooops!
$120,000+$120,000+$71,000+$52,000 ($363,000)
minus withdrawals of $110,000+$55,000+$20,000 ($185,000)
equals $0?
Right?
That's the answer he got and stands by.
Bum lawyer and dumb client are a recipe for a victory on the other side.
I waited to hear from the courts as to a date when we needed to appear. But I never got anything in the mail. So finally after three weeks, I contacted the courts myself and asked them what was happening, when was the hearing date? It was explained to me that there is no hearing date and that the court wouldn't be contacting me until they had reached a decision. I was told that I had 13 days from the date of the objection to respond to it. A decision would be rendered anywhere from 30 - 90 days.
What? I had no idea and it was way past 13 days now! What to do? What to do?
I responded anyway. I addressed every item that he and his lawyer came up with as a reason why the order should be vacated and I explained the truth and the reality. It was several pages long when I was done. I made three copies and mailed them to the court. One to the magistrate that made the order, one to the objection unit and one to the support unit. I didn't even know if the objection unit was real, but I knew it would end up wth somebody.
I prayed about it, left it in God's hands and forgot about it. Whatever happened would be His will.
Well, yesterday when I got my mail, there was another manila envelope, a smaller one, from Queens Family Court. I got nervous as I usually do when I get an envelope from the court. I don't know why. I guess it just brings everything I'm going through with him back to the surface and it's unnerving.
I opened it and scanned the paper and realized it was the answer to the objection. There was nothing on the first page but some blah blah blah. So I scanned the second page and midway through it, I saw the decision.
DENIED.
I read it again, "Now after consideration of the recording of this proceeding, the Court denies Respondent's objection."
I read through the 7 pages quickly and saw that the court didn't find any errors with the magistrate's findings and backed them up with case law. The numbers he provided the court of the hundreds of thousands being deposited into his business account and withdrawals that didn't add up or were unaccounted for, didn't help him either.
When I had gotten the original support order, a friend of mine told me not to get my hopes up because most of these men don't pay. I told her that although that may be true, I couldn't believe that God had worked things out and allowed the magistrate to see past his lies and enter a substantial order only to dangle it in front of my face like a carrot before a donkey. And I believed that.
But you know what?
He didn't pay, and hasn't made one single payment based on the order. In November he paid $1,500. In December, the month when he paid $10,000 to get out of jail for violating my order of protection, he paid nothing. In January he paid $500 and in February $1,000. So out of $10,000 that should've been paid in four months, he's paid $3,000.
Now, will this denial of his objection make him start paying? I don't know, that's in God's hands. Either way, it's a win win situation for me and the children. He's already over $20,000 in arrears, so if he doesn't pay, he just keeps building up this wonderful savings account for us. If he does pay, then I can do for his children what needs to be done. In the meantime, I'll keep doing what I have to do and will leave him in God's care.
The front of this order also contains a notice informing him that if he wants to appeal, it must be done within 35 days of the mailing date of the order. I don't know why he should get to appeal after losing the objection. What more can he say?
Since he thinks he's just fighting me and not God, then I'm sure he feels he can just hire another lawyer and file an appeal and maybe win this time. I really can't say because I don't understand evil minds.
He hasn't yet learned that his arms are too short to box with God!
.....or a fool.
