What a mess

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

Dear SLB02:

Greetings. I can only speak about what is normal in our office. We have someone that will call you back the same day (unless you call after office hours). That person will place you with the best team to come in and meet with an attorney and determine what the strategy will be going forward and the costs associated with the same.

  1. He needs an attorney before he goes to court.

  2. Yes.

  3. An attorney would charge you substantially more to handle any other visitation issues along with the support issue, and it sounds to me like there are not sufficient funds in existence to handle everything.

Yes, we have consultations on the same day available generally. Thank you.

Janet L. Fritts
Attorney with Rosen Divorce
4101 Lake Boone Trail, Suite 500
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607
919.787.6668 main phone
919.256.1665 direct fax

10925 David Taylor Drive, Suite 100
Charlotte, North Carolina 28262
704.644.2831 main voice
704.307.4595 main fax

The response posted above is based upon the limited factual information made available and is not intended as a full and complete response to the question. The only reliable manner to obtain complete and adequate legal advice is to consult with an attorney, fully explain your situation, and allow the attorney sufficient opportunity to research the applicable law and facts required to render an accurate opinion. The basic information provided above is intended as a public service but a full discussion with an attorney should be undertaken before taking any action.

2

This is becoming more of a nightmare, and we just don’t know what to do.

My Dh is taking on a new job that will pay him 1/2 of what he made at Job #1. BUT…he has the potential to make a LOT more (comissions, bonuus, etc.) after awhile (which could be months or a year or more…who knows). But he won’t be able to pay the current amt. of child support he is currently paying to his ex-wife. Period.

Sure, DH chose to make this change, but he was already struggling with the small salary he had at Job #1 (i.e. struggling to make the current child support payments). He is a certified financial planner, and had been interviewing for 2 years now. Very competitive field, and most CFP’s are indeed commisioned-based professionals. Although he’d made a few offers, this company he is going for will pay him a (modest) base, and commisions to boot. In essence, this was the BEST thing that he’d found. There was no way he could take a job without some sort of base salary.

Someone (an attny.) “advised” him that he should try to “negotiate” with the ex. Of course, she wouldn’t take less. In fact, she wants MORE. So she immediatly went out and hired an atty. All week DH has ben getting unpleasant letters (of course) from this attny. who is demanding his tax returns from 2004,W-2, and where he will be working, and what he’ll be doing there, and how much he will be making. Her attny. also subpoenaed his Company #1 for all of his earnings, deductions, medical insurance (which he pays for his son with her), etc.

So this is going to get ugly.

We need to hire and attny. and get a consultion ASAP. We were referred to another attny. last week. DH called on Thurs. and a paralegal told him that one of the attny’s would TRY to “see” if they would take him on or not. Is this “normal”? Yes, this is a big practice, but why should we wait several days, just to see if they will talk to him?

DH takes on his new job March 15 so we are under a time crunch here. Obviously he can’t take time off to go to court and visit lawyers after this time.

My main questions are:

  • DH filled out paperwork with CSE, and is to go to court this week. Would it be advisable for him to do this, or to see and atty. first?

  • If DH finds an atty., would it be advisable to list all of the companies he interviewed with, to establish the fact that he had been trying to better his career and salary for the past 2 years?

  • DH’s ex also has not adhered to the child visiation schedule. Obviously, CSE doesn’t handle this, but would an attny. take this “on” on TOP of everything else? I would think that there should be a “character” battle, if you will, here. The ex-wife has not only withheld visitations, but LIED about him being late on his c/s payments. It is too much of a saga to go into.

  • If we called your office on Monday, would it be possible to get a consultation as early as next week? HELP!!!