*** 

Attorney for Respondent

I beseech the court to exercise extreme intolerance regarding P***’s attempt to deceive the judicial system in this case.

      After several months on disability, I decided to quit work about June 1998. I haven’t been working since. My second husband and I take care of his 2 kids, 1 of whom lives with us full-time, and my 2 minor kids.  My ex knows all this. I don’t know why he put down that he estimates my monthly income as $3,333.00 – in any of my jobs I never came anywhere near that kind of income.  I ended my last job at a yearly gross salary of $24,000.

      The balance of uninsured health care costs past due to me from my ex is $958.37 as of 03/22/2001. In addition he owes $25 a month to me for  orthodontic expenses 04/01/2001 thru 07/01/2002. I renegotiated the original orthodontic payments of $200 a month to $50 a month when my ex continued to NOT pay ANY child support or his share of uncovered medical for six months AFTER his six months of unemployment ended and his own financial shows he was receiving income.  He emailed me 10/15/2000, “Well that is good news. It will really help at this end. I am trying to put together a payment to you as well as the LA Family support group. I have been doing odd jobs and been trying to save some money toward these debts.”  I responded to my ex, “Oh yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do – help at your end.  I’m trying to help ME by renegotiating the orthodontic payments! I’m the one who continues to pay the bills no matter what you choose to do.” (See Attachment #1).  My ex didn’t send the promised payments. 

05/05/2000 my ex emailed me he wouldn’t be sending me any more uncovered medical payments because NV DA had intercepted his federal tax refund.  After he was served by LA DA for child support 02/2001, my ex suddenly made a $150 payment towards his share of uncovered medical and promised future monthly payments.  I haven’t received any March payments towards medical.  My ex shows no debt on his financials. He obviously doesn’t plan to pay off his share of uncovered medical expenses and doesn’t consider it a debt, although he receives a statement from me each month. 

There is $390 in uncovered medical that has not been resolved yet by the insurance companies, and ***’s share may be $195. (See Attachment #2). 

I ask the court to order P*** to pay one lump sum payment of $958.37, and include a consequence of contempt of court if it is not paid as ordered, with 10% yearly interest, calculated monthly, accruing.  I ask the court to order P*** to pay any future uncovered medical in full each month within 30 days of my sending him a statement, or he will face contempt of court while 10% yearly interest, calculated monthly, on unpaid balances is accrued. I ask the court to add $25 a month to the child support in order to cover P***’s monthly orthodontic payments thru 07/01/2002.

      I don’t understand why my ex thinks he’s exercising 25% visitation. Before child support was increased from $580 to $1295 a month ’95, he was seeing our daughters only because my then boyfriend and I would travel from Vegas to CA 3xs a year to make sure the girls saw their dad since our 7 year old daughter had planned her suicide over her father’s neglect.  In court ‘95 to have child support increased my ex tried to convince the DA that he exercised 25% visitation.  The DA didn’t believe him.  The very day that the DA increased support to $1295 a month, my ex served me with court papers to reduce support to $220 a month.  In court several months later my ex suddenly wanted to exercise 20% visitation, and child support was reduced to $866 a month. He’s never exercised his full visitation. The girls and I have to push him to exercise the visitation he does agree to exercise. He takes the girls for his spring week if it’s his year, a week at Xmas, President’s Day weekend, Thanksgiving if it’s his year, six weeks during the summer, and a b day weekend each – 16% visitation. 

      My ex is an accomplished machinist, and for some decades he has worked as a manufacturing manager. He moved to Los Osos, CA, @12/99 to live near his brothers and “get that family back together.”  I believe he also moved there to get an online site off the ground with his brothers (See Attachment 3). My ex was living off a generous severance pay and snubbed his nose at me about child support when he responded to my concerns by emailing me 02/15/2000, “Yes, (giggle) I am looking for work.  If I don’t manage to find a job by then, monies will come out of unemployment benefits, which are good for 6 months, or so I have been advised.” (See Attachment 4). I don’t believe my ex intended to get a job. The online site opened in 04/2000 (See Attachment 3 page 2), and he received income from it during receiving unemployment.  His motion does not mention his income from the online site, his income from working for his landlord and having his rent lowered, his income from other odd jobs (See Attachment #1), or that his brother rented a room from him for months, and now his wife’s daughter and her boyfriend are renting a room from them.

      His decision to move to an area with few manufacturing jobs, to move to an area where neither he nor his wife yet had a job, and his decision to now take on a job as a dental lab trainee should not impact the child support.  He could still move to LA, Riverside, or Orange County (all places he and his wife have lived before) in order to find a better manufacturing job.

      I ask the court not to lower child support based on his many years of average $42K salary. I enclose his 12/24/93 financial statement showing gross wages of $42,203.20 and a 401K, and his 10/18/91 financial showing gross wages of $42,000.00 and a savings account of $2,392 during the period of time he was not paying child support and the girls and I were on food stamps facing eviction (See Attachment 5). He worked for that company for 7 years, until about ’98. He moved to England @ 12/98 at the request of his Riverside County employer, rented a large home in England, moved back to the states @12/99, with a large severance. I ask the court to consider ***’s earning capacity according to CA Family Code 4058 3b.

He owns computers and equipment he sells thru his online business.

      On his current financial, he does not disclose savings, checking account or property information.

Please increase child support to include his average $42K a year salary, to include the increase of my ’95 $19K yearly gross salary (See Attachment 7c) to my ending ’98 salary of $24K gross a year, to reflect P*** not qualifying for the ’95 hardship deduction anymore (See Attachment 7b), and to reflect my ex’s years of exercising only 16% visitation.

      Please increase the amount of the $30 arrears payment my ex stipulated to in ’95 (See Attachment 7a) to at least cover the interest charges of $400 a month he’s incurring on arrears. A balance of $49,204.51 in arrears / interest is owed (See Attachment 6 page 3).

      I ask the court to please consider P***’s wife’s income when calculating child support, arrears, medical and visitation expense according to CA Family Code 4057.5 2b “For purposes of this section, an extraordinary case may include a parent who voluntarily or intentionally quits work or reduces income, or who intentionally remains unemployed or underemployed and relies on a subsequent spouse’s income.”  His wife has been working full time since moving to Los Osos, CA, @12/99. She does not have custody of children, and is not required to support children.

      I ask the court to please consider specifying a larger percentage to withhold from P***’s disposable earnings than the norm of 50% to the maximum Federal Law allows of 65%. 

      If the LA County DA has not yet resolved the issues of arrears, then there needs to be a continuance (See attachment 7). 

      The ’95 court order states “Petitioner will pay his own travel expenses incurred in connection with the time he will have the minor children with him (See Attachment 7b). When our 16 year old daughter is with her dad, he does not take her out to practice driving because she’s not covered under his car insurance.  However when she has her license, I believe he wants the benefit of her driving out to see him, since he now refuses to buy airfare or make the drive out to pick them up.  Our 16 year old daughter needs to attend behind the wheel driver’s training classes.  In several years our 13 year old daughter will be needing the same thing.  I ask the court to order P*** to pay ½ of his daughters’ behind the wheel driver’s training classes, and ½ of their car insurance each month through high school and their college years if they’re living at my home or are away at college, within 30 days of receiving a bill.  Please add that if the bill is not paid, he faces contempt of court while interest charges of 10% a year, calculated monthly, accrue. 

      P*** wanted the girls to travel by train to visit him. Several hours out of our day, $8 parking out of our pocket, and food money for the trip, I told him what an inconvenience it was for my husband and I.  My ex wanted us to do it again. I refused.  After being served by LA DA 02/2001, P*** was suddenly very cooperative and sent $25 for the Metro Train to Union Station and food (something I was insisting on). Please order P*** to send $25 in advance of any train trip.  If the girls drive out to visit him, it’s a 4hr 4min drive, 218.2 miles (according to Yahoo Maps).  Please order P*** to pay in advance of the trip $.25 a mile and $20 for their food on the way.

      Our high school daughter has a @3.25 grade point average and is planning to go to college. My ex wants A*** to live with him to go to college.  Since A*** was 12 years old she’s nicely turned down his offers to live with him.  She is happy he wants her to live with him.  She doesn’t plan to live with him.

I ask the court to order P*** to continue child support through college if our daughters continue to live at my home while attending college full-time.  If the girls go away to college and attend full time, please order P*** to pay ½ of books, tuition, room and board within 30 days of receiving a bill.  Please add that if the bill is not paid he faces contempt of court while interest charges of 10% a year, calculated monthly, accrue.

      I am also waiting for the DA to file criminal charges against P*** for not paying ANY child support for six months after his six months of unemployment ended.  The $228 unemployment child support received by me 08/2000 was received by LA County DA before August, and the $1,553.90 received by me 12/2000 was a federal tax refund held for 6 months by Nevada DA. P***’s financial shows that during those six months after his unemployment ended he was averaging an income of $1,416.67 a month.  P*** was working at the dental lab 7am – 5pm BEFORE he was “hired full time” by the lab 01/01/2001.  That income does not include the online site income, working for his landlord, other odd jobs, or renting out a room to relatives.  P*** is in criminal contempt for the six month period of 08/2000 – 01/2001.  (See Attachment 6 page 3).

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Are you wondering how on earth arrears/interest got to over $49K?