Potentially Paying Child Support Back

My question involves child support in the State of: West Virginia

Hello and thank you for your time,

I'm going to try and be as concise as possible here - so please bear with me. My mother fell very ill (she has been disabled for years) and became hospitalized (I'm an adult, a few years shy of 30) a few days before the turn of the new year. She was raising her (now deceased) sister's two children, one of which received Child Support - a boy, who turned 19 in December, and was to receive Child Support to the best of my knowledge until he completed school this year. The twist is, due to social anxiety, the boy had dropped out of school sometime in November, and my mother/the boy were apparently working with the school to have an at-home program where his work would be sent to him so that he could graduate.

As soon as I found out my mother was ill, I stepped in to help with her apartment / bills / the children (as I'm her only child / next of kin). After speaking with my mother (once she was cognizant) she had me use money from her bank account and from her child support card to make sure the children were taken care of. In mid-to-late January, my step-uncle (on my mother's side) called the boy's father and let him know what was going on. We also took care of the little girl until they were able to get custody papers for her (as the girl wasn't related to anyone except the boy) and leave in early February.

Long story short, we (my wife and myself) used the Child Support card in the month of January/February, and never touched it again. March and April's payments from the father are still sitting in an account; which is automatically deposited.

So in April, and then again today, I've received harassing phone calls stating that I and my mother (who's now between hospitals/the nursing home as she can't walk nor is she sound of mind as of March) are going to jail for fraud, as according to the individuals (who never had anything to do with the boy until they came to get him in February) we're out "blowing their money". They're also saying that money is still going onto the card; but it can't be being that nothing was deposited in the month of May. That being said, I have a few questions:

1) Should I send, by check, the remaining amount on the child support card for the two untouched months? (They have requested the card, but being that it has my mother's name on it - I'm kind of sketchy on that idea)

2) Was there anything fraudulent involved here on my end given the above information? I don't know the in's and out's of any discussions that took place regarding his home-schooling with the father, as the father had very little if anything to do with him (I don't think he'd even seen him since he was a small child) but I was acting in an emergency situation as directed by my mother; doing at the time what I thought was right. I've even spoke with the family and tried to help them on my end, but they're not willing to conduct a civil conversation. I also tried to contact DHHR, even with the case number, but without Power of Attorney papers, they say I can't have any involvement.

3) Shouldn't the family have contacted DHHR/CSE in February?

4) If you have any advice, what do I do from here? Do I let it ride out and possibly go to (in my mind) small claims court or should I contact a lawyer?

Thanks again for your time.

Quote:

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Quoting Philip_Payne

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My question involves child support in the State of: West Virginia

Hello and thank you for your time,

I'm going to try and be as concise as possible here - so please bear with me. My mother fell very ill (she has been disabled for years) and became hospitalized (I'm an adult, a few years shy of 30) a few days before the turn of the new year. She was raising her (now deceased) sister's two children, one of which received Child Support - a boy, who turned 19 in December, and was to receive Child Support to the best of my knowledge until he completed school this year. The twist is, due to social anxiety, the boy had dropped out of school sometime in November, and my mother/the boy were apparently working with the school to have an at-home program where his work would be sent to him so that he could graduate.

As soon as I found out my mother was ill, I stepped in to help with her apartment / bills / the children (as I'm her only child / next of kin). After speaking with my mother (once she was cognizant) she had me use money from her bank account and from her child support card to make sure the children were taken care of. In mid-to-late January, my step-uncle (on my mother's side) called the boy's father and let him know what was going on. We also took care of the little girl until they were able to get custody papers for her (as the girl wasn't related to anyone except the boy) and leave in early February.

Long story short, we (my wife and myself) used the Child Support card in the month of January/February, and never touched it again. March and April's payments from the father are still sitting in an account; which is automatically deposited.

So in April, and then again today, I've received harassing phone calls stating that I and my mother (who's now between hospitals/the nursing home as she can't walk nor is she sound of mind as of March) are going to jail for fraud, as according to the individuals (who never had anything to do with the boy until they came to get him in February) we're out "blowing their money". They're also saying that money is still going onto the card; but it can't be being that nothing was deposited in the month of May. That being said, I have a few questions:

1) Should I send, by check, the remaining amount on the child support card for the two untouched months? (They have requested the card, but being that it has my mother's name on it - I'm kind of sketchy on that idea)

2) Was there anything fraudulent involved here on my end given the above information? I don't know the in's and out's of any discussions that took place regarding his home-schooling with the father, as the father had very little if anything to do with him (I don't think he'd even seen him since he was a small child) but I was acting in an emergency situation as directed by my mother; doing at the time what I thought was right. I've even spoke with the family and tried to help them on my end, but they're not willing to conduct a civil conversation. I also tried to contact DHHR, even with the case number, but without Power of Attorney papers, they say I can't have any involvement.

3) Shouldn't the family have contacted DHHR/CSE in February?

4) If you have any advice, what do I do from here? Do I let it ride out and possibly go to (in my mind) small claims court or should I contact a lawyer?

Thanks again for your time.

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I don't think that you did anything wrong. With your mother's permission you used HER money to pay her bills and cover the needs of the children in her custody. That is a normal thing to do when someone is hospitalized.

Definitely you do NOT want to give them the child support card, and you should not send them the money back either. The father should have filed to end child support.