Do We Really Owe That Much in Back Child Support

My question involves child support in the State of: Illinois

I live in Kane County, Illinois. My husband owes his x-wife child support. His son is 12, but his daughter is 19 as of November 2009. My husband never went back to court to have child support adjusted when his daughter turned 18 and was out of highschool. He also lost his job a year and a half ago (also never went to court to have his child support reduced) . He has been receiving unemployment and has not been able to pay the full amount if any at times. His x-wife now says he owes $9,000.00 in back child support. She is not taking any off for his change in income, nor is she taking any off for the year and a half his daughter has been out of school. Is there anything we can do or are we stuck paying his x-wife all this back child support?

Thanks!

If your husband didn't petition the courts to modify then yes, in all likelihood, he owes this amount.

It wasn't up to his ex to take into account anything - it was up to your husband.

I was afraid of that. I am an x-wife as well and my x-husband was paying me direct instead of sending it to the dispersment unit. He received a letter saying he owed $5000.00. I went to court with him to sign an affidavid that he did not owe the money. Too bad there are such greedy people out there :(

Thanks for the quick response

One more quick question...since we are married and file our taxes jointly will the fed gov pay her from our tax return?

It's possible, yes - so you will need to file as injured spouse to ensure that your portion of the tax refund isn't taken.

Or you may want to file married but filing separate... just a thought.

Dog is right, it's was your husbands responsibility to get that reduced, not x's.

Not trying to be mean, or point fingers, but if your husband has been unemployed this entire time, what was he doing? Did you ever remind him or anything? I know that if my DH paid child support and he lost his job or what have you, I'd make sure he filed with the courts.

The amount could be high due to the interest. From your thread, it sounds like you know how the system works.

The best thing to do is file separately. Yes the IRS could withhold for the back support. If you file jointly the system could hold up your refund for months until they sort out how much to hold back for arrears.
Encourage your husband to get the arrears paid off.

Quote:

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Quoting mrshiggins

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Or you may want to file married but filing separate... just a thought.

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Up until the other day, I would have suggested the same thing.
However, I just learned that filing seperately will not stop an attempt to intercept. This is because even though a person can file seperately thier spouse's SSN has to be written on the return. The SSN is what red flags a return at IRS when any type of intercept notice has been sent.

Filing jointly with injured spouse form is the best way to go.

And if that doesn't work, PLEASE contact the Tax Advocate Service.