Florida Law and Child Support Back Payments From Georgia

**e13863** · 12-25-2007, 09:49 PM

I need advice on the following. I moved from Georgia to Florida last year. I was paying court enforced, by Cobb County, child payments directly from my wages for the sum of $800 for my only one child based on the salery I was making at the time in Atlanta.

When I moved down to Orlando, Florida I was out of work for a couple of months and so feel behind in my payments. I finaly started working but was only getting about 1/2 what I was earning in Atlanta. My Ex-wife went through some 3rd party company to get the $800 per month and the backpayments but they are trying to collect almost up to 4X what I owe in backpayments , I was paying $800 per month on a higher salery now I am paying $1,200 per month on a lesser salery ???? Can someone please tell me if this is legal, can they do this ?? I can barely afford to pay my rent isn't there some kind of hardship rule ?

Also as this was done in Cobb County Ga as part of a divorce paper, do I have to get it corrected in GA or can I fight it in Florida ..

I don't have any money left from paying this support and rent to afford a lawyer to help me fight this, so if anyone knows of a free legal aide service ..etc that can help i would be very gratefull ...

**lwpat** · 12-26-2007, 04:48 AM

Some of these 3rd party companies are nothing but a scam. You need to make arrangements directly with the court and pay them. You can file for a modification of child support in the GA court. Whether they will consider it or not depends on the situation and how long it has been since a review. You are responsible for getting enough work to support your child. Whether you can also support yourself does not matter.

**Xena** · 12-26-2007, 05:14 PM

Quoting e13863

I need advice on the following. I moved from Georgia to Florida last year. I was paying court enforced, by Cobb County, child payments directly from my wages for the sum of $800 for my only one child based on the salery I was making at the time in Atlanta.

When I moved down to Orlando, Florida I was out of work for a couple of months and so feel behind in my payments. I finaly started working but was only getting about 1/2 what I was earning in Atlanta. My Ex-wife went through some 3rd party company to get the $800 per month and the backpayments but they are trying to collect almost up to 4X what I owe in backpayments , I was paying $800 per month on a higher salery now I am paying $1,200 per month on a lesser salery ???? Can someone please tell me if this is legal, can they do this ?? I can barely afford to pay my rent isn't there some kind of hardship rule ?

Also as this was done in Cobb County Ga as part of a divorce paper, do I have to get it corrected in GA or can I fight it in Florida ..

I don't have any money left from paying this support and rent to afford a lawyer to help me fight this, so if anyone knows of a free legal aide service ..etc that can help i would be very gratefull ...

Was your court order set up where you pay ex directly, or do you pay through the state disbursement unit?

IF you pay through the state, you'll need to immediatly contact the court to find out how to stop the garnishments from the collection agency stopped. Any payments not made exactly thru the state will not usually be given credit, so it's very important that you look into it right away.