I divorced in 2003 at which time my ex-wife had custody of her 3 kids (I adopted them so I had to pay child support) and I had custody of my biological daughter (tried to get custody of all of them, but the others were old enough for the courts to let them live where they wanted to).

As a part of our divorce decree, we decided I would send her a check for the difference of what I owed her vice what she owed me. This amounted to $500/month and the divorce decree reads "father will pay mother $500/month taking into consideration the father has custody of one child".

When the youngest (hers) reached the age of majority, my ex-wife should then have started to pay me. She claimed poverty, and I agreed to let her pay me $100/month. I have e-mails where she agreed to this, and later discussed her lack of any payment.

This month, the court put a custody order into effect at my request for $140/month but only back dated it to last November. She paid nothing from June 2007 until then.

Question: can I take her to small claims court in Ohio (her state of residence) to get her to pay the $1500 she AGREED to pay out of court? If not, she just gets off scott free? What other options do I have, or was it just a poorly worded divorce decree?

There ARE deadbeat MOM'S out there too!

Thanks!

You cannot change a Court Order by any means other than another Court Order. Your side arrangement should have been ratified by the Court. Some Small Claims Courts WILL hear support matters; the majority will refer you back to the Court which has jurisdiction.

The Small Claims Court may not hear this as it is technically a family court matter.

The best answer would be to go back to the original Judge and run this past him.

No you can not do this. Verbal child support agreements not signed and not signed by the judge are not inforceable