My exhusband died in July 2006 owing $5000 in past-due child support. I had case with Child support enforcement before he died. Tax offset dept withheld his federal refund. Lady from CSE called & told me I would get my money faster if I withdrew my case & let Tax offset mail refund to widow who would then mail me money. I got widow to agree via email to send me a check for the amount held by tax offset dept. Widow refuses to contact me. I have no waying of knowing whether she has received money, but it has been almost 2 years since he died. Widow has put on new roof, and new fence.

Widow did file Injured Spouse with IRS and received $400 refund. I sent demand letter in Dec 2007, no response. I filed claim 30 days ago, still no response. All I want is to pay off 4-wheeler I purchased for our only child after his father passed away. I bought it for him so he could continue to hunting. My brother promised my ex that he would keep taking our son hunting and stuff.

There is no statute of limitations on past-due child support. But he had no estate to file against. I didn't think I had to worry about getting the money from widow, after all, it was going for his son's enjoyment. Not to me for paying medical bills, food, clothing, roof over his head, when his father and wife weren't able to pay!

Does anyone know if I actually have a chance at winning this case? Of course, not legal advice, just wondering. I live in Georgia. My former attorney won't call me back. I think he's not at the office anymore.

Thanks,
Beverly

justcurious55

if i were you i would get another attorney to start with.

Synnen

Get a new attorney.

My guess is that because you withdrew your claim, you're never going to see that money. But--I'm not a lawyer. YOU need to talk to a lawyer about this--and I'd get my money back from the FIRST lawyer if I were you, for not actually DOING anything with your case.

Fr_Chuck

Yes, the real trouble is that SHE does not owe you the money, so you can only sue his estate money. So there is no case against his widow, only against his money So this is going to be a harder case and I wlll be honest it may well cost more than 5000 to even get to court.

JudyKayTee

Exactly, it's a claim against the estate so that's where you have to file ... and, yes, it could very well cost more than you can collect.

The widow should have listed it as a debt on his probate papers so you'll have to check on that.

stinawords

As said it isn't likely you will get the money. Withdrawing your claim was bad advice. As said it would have to be a claim against the estate and from what I gather there wasn't much of one and she did right by herself to file the damaged spouce form which is what I've had to advise many to do. If you really want to fight it though you will need a new lawyer and it will be expensive.

JudyKayTee

[quote=red2ladyb]Widow did file Injured Spouse with IRS and received $400 refund. I sent demand letter in Dec 2007, no response. I filed claim 30 days ago, still no response. All I want is to pay off 4-wheeler I purchased for our only child after his father passed away. I bought it for him so he could continue to hunting. My brother promised my ex that he would keep taking our son hunting and stuff.



Didn't change content, just deleted some paragraphs to make this reply shorter -

If the 4-wheeler was purchased AFTER your ex-husband died based on your brother's promise to your ex that he would keep taking your son hunting you have absolutely not a leg to stand on in that regard - unless, of course, your ex specifically said, "Buy him a 4 wheeler and I'll pay for it." That would, of course, still be an up hill fight.

Otherwise my original advice stands -

reikiwmn

Hmmm, Did the wife have an income? It seems they would be taking the tax returns ,if any, from them to pay back support. My daughters refund got taken because of this since she and her husband filed joint and he owed back support. Seems like something is amiss somewhere here.

stinawords

Nothing is amiss she did the right thing in order to get her money she filed the injured spouce form along with their taxes. Advise your daughter to do the same next year or her money can be taken as well as his or just tell her to take the taxes to a better accountant and they will make sure all is in order.

red2ladyb

Thanks to everyone for their advice! There was no will, nothing to probate because he put everything in her name when they gave him 2 weeks to live. Nothing to probate. However, she did know the money was owed when he died. His child support debt did not disappear when when he died.

Their tax refund was held back, but I withdrew my case. Apparently, I established that I was owed the money or CSE wouldn't have initiated the tax offset. The widow assumed his debt by agreeing to pay when tax refund was received. If I had not withdrawn my case, she would not have received the tax refund. Therefore, she received money I was entitled to. I did not "give up" my right to child support; I gave up on CSE to collect it. The widow had small income of $14000/yr. Ex-husband was in $70000/yr.

How do you file a claim against his estate when he put everything in her name? He actually believed she would take care of his only child and do the right thing. Can you file against an estate that doesn't exist? Is there a time limit to file?

Thanks!!