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Burden of Proof
My question involves child support in the State of: Tennessee
In June of 2008, my fiance's ex wife filed a claim on him the with State of Tennessee for back child support. She claimed that he never paid any more child support after the death of one of their twin sons in 2001. She convinced the living son that was the case. From going through old files, this has apparently been a common practice of hers through the year. So, since my fiance kept all his records on computer, that than hard copies, we have had to spent much money so far getting copies of canceled checks from various banks. He took off time from work (in Texas) to travel to Tennessee. The mother did not show up -- but was at the hearing via phone. Her sworn testimony over the phone confirmed her contention that no child support had been paid since July of 2001, and she came up with a figure of $33,000+. After her testimony, my fiance presented a folder full of copies of canceled checks from 2001 to 2005. The states attorney asked her about it. She got very defensive and says she just can't remember much about that time! Now, we were able to get most of the copies of canceled checks, but there was one back who said they did not keep those records. But the court is contending if HE can't prove it -- it is just too bad. They also noted, however, they believed she had committed fraud on the State of Tennessee. The state has dropped that amount by less than 50% of what she initially claimed. Now, my questions (1) how should he go about appealing this to lower the monthly garnishment (at the time of the last order he salary was more than double what it is now and (2) since she did lie, commit fraud, do we (he) have any kind of legal recourse against her? Thanks for your help.
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Re: Burden of Proof
He got his "recourse" - they reduced her claim.
If he wants to try to prove that he made additional payments, he needs to start scrounging for those missing checks.