My husband is mentally disabled and was ordered to pay child support, was not yet on disability, and was way behind in arrears when I met him. Since then we have gotten him on disability, and now they take 40% of his benefit. Now an Ex-girlfriend is trying to open a child support case on him. If another case is opened on him, how much more can they take out of his disability benefits? Can all of his benefits be taken? More importantly, why does the system allow people tp prey on the mentally incompetent?

Hello D:

The system ANYWHERE in the world will take advantage of ANYONE who doesn't fight back... Fortunately, in THIS country, if our laws have been broken, a victimized party can sue for redress. I wish it weren't so, but you actually have to FIGHT for your rights. You just can't EXPECT things to go along swimmingly. That's just not realistic...

Now, once you/your husband DOES have competent legal representation, you may find that child support CANNOT be taken from disabled people. More importantly, by hiring a lawyer, he can DO something about it instead of just giving you information which will do you NO good.

I say no good, because WHAT would you DO with information that the state is illegally taking money from your husbands check?? Call them up and tell them to STOP?? Really??

excon

There are a couple things that are important here. First, is he mentally ill, or has been ruled as incompetent? (as in, he can make no decisions, someone else has power of attorney or guardianship) Does he receive SSI or SSDI? If he suffers from mental illness but has not been ruled as incompetent, what they have done is perfectly legal. Mental illness does not remove the obligation to contribute to the support of your children. It is only in cases where the individual suffers from a permanent mental disability that makes them incapable of making decisions for themselves that mental incompetence comes into play.

SSDI can be garnished for child support, although SSI cannot be. The amount of support will be calculated by whatever the baseline formula is in your area. They cannot take everything, but the formula will determine how much he will have to contribute per child.

Regardless of the situation, these children are a part of your husband, and if he is truly mentally incompetent and you are his guardian (or have P.O.A.) you should be making these payments on his behalf. The real victims here are the children, who don't have a choice about having both parents love, presence, and support, and have to deal with whatever the adults hand to them.

Hello,excon!
It is not true in the USA.Child support can be taken from SSDI at anytime
George

Maybe you have enough money to pay everyone else's bills as well as your own, but that is not the case for everyone. "Regardless of the situation, these children are a part of your husband, and if he is truly mentally incompetent and you are his guardian (or have P.O.A.) you should be making these payments on his behalf." LOL What planet are you from? That statement is totally unrealistic and ridiculous. He is incompetent, these women have clearly taken advantage of that and are trying to get money from him. There are starving children all over the world, are you going to save them all? He is the victim and you would make his wife one too by rewarding those other women for some unrealistic self righteous nonsense. The real world doesn't work that way.

If he is incompetent, then who ever is appointed as his guardian may represent him in court, and hire an attorney to defend him.

But if he is imcompetent, was he when he "fathered" the children, if so, where was his guardian when this was going on.

But of course if he is the father, they may collect the legal child support. He and who ever handles his affairs has that obligation to pay

Farthole, this is a legal board, not a sounding board. My answer is certainly factually correct and you have to right to ding it on that basis. Please review the ratings policy of the site.

If he was competent enough to sleep with two women and impregnate them, his children ARE his responsibility. They do not become magically fatherless because of his choices. If he truly is legally incompetent, then his guardian at the time was completely negligent. You know nothing about the situation as the OP has not noted if he has been legally ruled incompetent, and abusing the rating system will get you the boot if you keep it up.

Is the child r4ecieving ssdi benefit also? If so then it can be used to offset the current supprt order and it should be taken back to court for modification.

How far gone is his ability to make rational decisions? Was this declared by a court?