My ex and I drew up our separation agreement on our own to save money and it was incorporated into our divorce decree back in 2004. One line item that we had was “husband will furnish a check at the beginning of each month to wife in the amount of $200 until wife remarries or child reaches legal age”. Well, I got remarried this weekend and my ex immediately sent me an email stating that based upon this line item he no longer has to send me a check. From what I understand, NC Child Support laws supercede this statement and he still needs to pay me CS until our daughter turns 18, regardless of whether I have remarried. Am I correct or does this statement stand since we incorporated it into the divorce decree? Thank you.
Your getting remarried will not cut off the court’s ability to order an appropriate amount of support commensurate with the child’s best interests. My advice is that you contact child support enforcement.
Thank you for your reply. Two other questions: First, If my ex and I have verbally modified our separation agreement for visitation and support (he only pays me $100 a month which is not what the original agreement states) can the NC Child Support agency use our modified agreement which hasn’t been legally changed or do they have to follow whatever is in the original agreement? Second, if I decide not to cause an uproar over $100/mo since he does pay for other things, will that affect my rights in the future to get child support? As long as my ex agrees to keep paying for the things he does, I can let it go but I don’t want to hurt my standing in case I need to request it in the future. Thanks.
NC child support can set an amount of support independent of your agreement and commensurate with the child support guidelines if a modification is appropriate. No verbal agreement is enforceable with respect to his reduction.