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goldenapple · May 20, 2008, 06:52 AM

Hello- I'm a single mom with a son. My son's father has 6 kids and is crying broke for the modification I filed for 1/2 child care and 1/2 prescription costs (my son has existing medical conditions). I can't afford a lawyer so I have to prove my case at trial. How the heck do I do that? I know that I'm entitiled to the money, but I don't even know where to start.

stinawords · May 20, 2008, 09:53 AM

You need to start by collecting all of your receipt from child care and prescriptions. You should keep others just so you have them on record but you need to bring your child care and prescription reciepts with you to court so the judge knows exactly how much it is costing. You do have to know though that with six kids especially if they are older you aren't going to get as much.

stinawords · May 20, 2008, 10:28 AM

Please don't open new threds just continue on this one it makes it a lot easier to help you. Now, in your other thread you said that your ex's lawyer presents one of your ex's paychecks to the judge to show proof of how much he makes. In order to get him to show financial statements you would have to petition the judge to make him present them. If your ex has a lawyer and you don't you are really in for a fight because his lawyer can say that it shows on his paystub the druation of time that check is for it probably also shows a running total of his taxes taken out by which one can calculate how much he would make in a year.

goldenapple · May 20, 2008, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by goldenapple

Hello- I'm a single mom with a son. My son's father has 6 kids and is crying broke for the modification I filed for 1/2 child care and 1/2 prescription costs (my son has existing medical conditions). I can't afford a lawyer so I have to prove my case at trial. How the heck do I do that? I know that I'm entitiled to the money, but I don't even know where to start.

Thanks for your help- What I'm trying to do is to do is prove that his part-time job that he has with UPS allows him to work over time to the point where just a paycheck that reflects a normal week wouldn't apply as his overall income. I'm already working on getting the transcripts from the previous court proceedings to prove that he and his lawyer had admitted to his second job off the books. I know that they also stated the amount but I have to find it . Unfortunately in NY lawyers that specialize in family law are pretty expensive, even for just a consult or retainer, and I am "just over" the cut off for any kind of legal assistance. I just need to prove that his circumstances, the lack of financial responsibility, and the fact that he is making more than what he is declaring in the courts warrants his ability to split these costs with me. Can I petition the financial statements while the trial is pending?

excon · May 20, 2008, 11:08 AM

Hello gold:

You don't have to prove anything. HE has to prove that he can't afford the payments, and if he lies, he's committing perjury. The court can certainly demand proof of his allegations, and they should... If they don't, you could ASK the judge to DO that.

excon

goldenapple · May 20, 2008, 11:19 AM

Thanks- This will probably sound strange to you then. When in front of the Magistrate, and the lawyer was trying to railroad me into a lesser amount (like literally ten dollars) and I wouldn't agree- he told us we were going to trial. THEN he told me since I was the petitioner and asking for more money, I would have to produce the witnesses and the proof to support my case... so you can understand my confusion in this whole thing. The hearing before this I was requested to provide valid childcare costs (by the judge), I do, and now I have to go to trial because his lawyer says he can't pay, waving a paycheck from a year ago.

Fr_Chuck · May 20, 2008, 01:03 PM

I hope I have combined the threads, please do not start new threads but merely add to the existing thread.

The problem is first, without an attorney you will not do 1/2 of what you have to do, to prove your cases. Child support is automatic, you prove he is the father, you require him to provide evidence of his income, you make him explain how he lives at this life style or that and you provide reciepts for rmedical care.

stinawords · May 20, 2008, 02:59 PM

The reason that you are having to prove more is because there is only so much money to work with. The judge can't take away his entire pay check and since there are six kids you have to show why your kid needs more money than another one. Generally (depending on the state) the oldest gets the most and each kid after that gets a little less so depending on how old yours is compaired to the others you are really going to have your work cut out for you.

JudyKayTee · May 20, 2008, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by stinawords

The reason that you are having to prove more is because there is only so much money to work with. The judge can't take away his entire pay check and since there are six kids you have to show why your kid needs more money than another one. Generally (depending on the state) the oldest gets the most and each kid after that gets a little less so depending on how old yours is compaired to the others you are really going to have your work cut out for you.

Oh, how I hate it when you beat me to the punch!