anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

Hi there everyone,
I'm wondering if anyone can help me on here?
My husband has been offered a fantastic opportunity to go and work in California. We are looking at this chance very very carefully and need a little guidance.
Hubby has 2 children from his previous marriage, he currently pays a figure to his ex via the CSA every month. (There is no court order in place for the monies)
Now having trawled the internet it would appear that he would still have to pay the maintance via a REMO, however I have read that the figure can't be set by the CSA . So does that mean that he would just carry on paying what he currently does or would the us government set a new figure based on what he earns in the states?
Sorry for all the questions but its something we have to consider as we were hoping to have a better lifestyle and the ability to fly his children out to see us 4 times a year. To complicate it all I have a child by my previous husband and i was intended to let him cease his payments or if he has to carry on I was planning on saving the money to fund my sons trips back to see his dad.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice.
X

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

US Government would not have any jurisdiction.

He keeps on paying. Presumably the CSA reassess every now or could do at the Mother behest.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

REMO (Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Order) is an agreement with different states and not the federal government. Usually in the US, the state government only gets involved if there is a court ordered child support payment and payments are made through the government. Usually a court order is issued for child support payments but the transfer of money is done directly between the parties. If the receiver of the payment doesn't receive payments, then that person can get another court order to have the payer pay support payments to the state and then the state will send it to the receiver.

Whether the state of California will get involved without a court order from the UK is highly unlikely. Awarding child support for foreigners that had children outside of the US is out of the jurisdiction of the state so there is no chance that California will become involved in determining child support payments unless both parties become legal permanent residents or citizens.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

USCIS seem obsessed with it at naturalisation time, though. Know one guy where his oath was held up for a long time as they were busy investigating whether he'd paid his maintenance for his UK kid who was already past 18 when he first entered the US. As he was waiting to sponsor his new UK wife, it was rather inconvenient.

As Michael said, there are agreements for payments with US states. Also, if he were resident here, it would seem that the US courts might well have jurisdiction.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

That seems to be a very slim possibility. First the plaintiff (non US resident) would have to petition the California court to hear the case and would likely be refused due to jurisdictional issues. If the court decided to hear the case, then the plaintiff would have to come to California to pursue the child support in court.

Even when one state awards child support judgements, other states generally don't like to get involved unless both parties no longer live in the state with jurisdiction.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

It's a possibility. Jurisdictional issues with courts over family matters are a minefield. The federal courts opted out altogether for some time, though Ankenbrandt v. Richards seems to have pulled them back in.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

A big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply.
We aren't trying to escape paying but we do need to ensure we budget for whatever we need to. And to be honest there seems to be a whole heap of taxes and various other things to take into account.
We'll get there.. if its ment to be then its ment to be!

I'd like to add that so far this forum has proved to be an absolute goldmine of information.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

I haven't heard of the case but I'll bet there was a sh*t load of money and expensive lawyers involved.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

You would be best to speak to the Family Section at your local Magistrates Court. (I used to work for them when I was in the UK)
The US courts would, I believe, have no say on what amount he was to pay. I saw cases where a man went to live in the US and continued to pay his ex a set figure £ via check for a while (was always fun converting it from $ to £ as it was based on the exchange rate at the time it arrived) but he eventually switched to pay it from his US bank to the UK court and they in turn paid the ex wife. It is usually very straight forward. Although in saying that, all the cases I saw had had Statement of Means forms filled out and the CSA or Magistrates went to a hearing to have a figure set if there was no previous court order. Several men who had moved abroad and wanted a set figure agreed by court before they left, would supply copies of bank statements showing checks or deposits that went to their ex so the court could see they had already been paying regularly and also have the court take into account circumstances and moving abroad.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

I think that the ex-wife would need to get a court order in the UK, which would then be enforced by a US court, for REMO to come into play. When my husband's ex-wife left the UK (shortly before we moved to the US) she called the CSA to say she was moving abroad and we got a letter from them saying 'she's moved abroad, so no more maintenance'. In our case this was exactly what we had discussed would happen but obviously the CSA don't enforce anything unless pushed to do so by the resident parent.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

It would have been better all around if they'd won, you know.

Re: anyone have any advise regarding CSA?
 

Not entirely true. The UK and US Governments have a co-operation act in place that would allow the CSA to task the probation department of wherever you are to obtain payment from you.

That said, as long as you keep paying your agreed amount and do not fall into arrears then there is no reason to worry.