I had my child-support modification hearing today, and I have to say that whoever said that judges in family court are more forgiving with pro-se litigants was way off base. I got ripped for every minor misstep in legal protocol. I got pretty thrown off by the whole situation, and at the end of the hearing the judge printed out a worksheet with her recommended child support order. Later, when I was looking over the paperwork, I noticed that she entered the wrong value into one of the fields, which resulted in an overpayment of $30 a month. I emailed my ex’s attorney, who is drafting the order, to point out the error. Since nothing has been signed, is the number set in stone even though the figures are erroneous, and I have the information to prove it? How do you suggest I approach correcting this matter?
If the Order has not been entered you may contact the judge, I recommend you do so in writing, to apprise her of the error. Any communication you have with the judge must include your ex’s attorney.
Pro_Se_Dad,
I am also Pro Se and had a similar experience back in October. I was pinged pretty good and I thought I was doing well until then. It got me pretty flustered in court.
Going back again in about three weeks.
It appears from your posts that you are Mecklenburg county - same for me.
Wondering who your judge is?
Ineteresting… I emailed the clerk of courts and was told that I should not contact the judge directly and I needed to seek further legal advice if I feel that there was a mistake in the calculations.
I’m not sure if it’s wise to discuss our presiding judges in our cases in an open forum, but this is actually the second judge assign to our case, since the original judge was voted out in November of 2008. I will say that my ex’s attorney didn’t even submit an affidavit until 5 minutes before the start of the hearing, which is in violation of local rule 8 (which states that the defendant much file a full financial affidavit by 5PM of the first Wednesday of the trial term). When the hearing started, I brought this to the judge’s attention, and her response was “So… what would you like me to do about it?”
It got worse after that.