question about child support...

[pedroh 21]

good morning people.. finally, using vj for an immigration question instead of silly political discussions.. The guide for naturalization documentation is quite clear, now, I have some issue going on paperwork wise with child support. The guide says that if I have a dependent child to show proof of payments, court orders, etc... now, when my ex-wife and I divorced, we had a civil agreement (not court mandated) of my providing a certain amount every month, voluntarily... which I complied, after several months I got laid off from my job, and went on unemployment, obviously the payments were more difficult to make since I was unemployed for more than a year.

This year my ex-wife had the courtesy of sending me the court to intervene because the amount we agreed upon was not being satisfied. The court then decided to take CS payments from my unemp check, etc etc, I got a new job and CS is taking payments from there as well.. now, should I just include the court order documents (which explain a debt of xxx amount and they intervened) and the garnished amounts thereafter, or should i include as well the bank statements showing i transfered money to my ex-wife voluntarily before the court, and explain I couldnt meet the payments because of my work situation?

thanks in advance

Edited September 4, 2010 by pedroh

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I would provide them with as much information as possible about the situation - so that would mean scenario number two. Show them that you were paying child support on a mutually arranged schedule and amount, and provide the evidence. You only became in arrears when your financial circumstances changed, and thus you now have the court documents that provide the information about the payments, the debt and the re-payment schedules. I think providing all of it shows you were not deliberately refusing to pay child support , that you were paying based upon the agreement until you found yourself financially strapped, and now have arrangements in place to pay the child support and catch up on the arrears. Since this is one of the areas they do consider when someone is applying for citizenship you need to give as full a picture of the circumstances as you can. As it is unlikely that your application will be looked at in any detail prior to your actual interview, you will also have the opportunity to speak to the circumstances at the interview.

Good luck.

[pedroh 21]

thank you kathryn.. i had already written a rough of the explanation of child support, but then i wasn't sure if i should include all the pre-court information as well... although I guess I need to elaborate a little more in the explanation so there can't be any misinterpretations or confusions..

thanks again!

[NickD 202]

thank you kathryn.. i had already written a rough of the explanation of child support, but then i wasn't sure if i should include all the pre-court information as well... although I guess I need to elaborate a little more in the explanation so there can't be any misinterpretations or confusions..

thanks again!

Really put up a tough fight to gain full custody of my kids, not only to avoid child support payments, but to make sure they were getting proper care. Its rare for a guy to get full custody, but was worth the battle. State of Wisconsin is really rough on dads for child support, threaten you even if you are making your payments, Happened to a friend of mine and got hit with 50% of his gross wages when his wife petitioned for the divorce so she could screw around with another guy. My wife divorced me because she didn't think I could support her life style after being severely injured in an auto accident. But I came back, cost me $25,000.00 to get my two kids, but I got them.

Later met a woman beyond my wildest dreams, only shortcoming of that was having to deal with the USCIS, but we got through that as well. Actually, everything worked out for the best, but didn't seem so at the time.

[pedroh 21]

Really put up a tough fight to gain full custody of my kids, not only to avoid child support payments, but to make sure they were getting proper care. Its rare for a guy to get full custody, but was worth the battle. State of Wisconsin is really rough on dads for child support, threaten you even if you are making your payments, Happened to a friend of mine and got hit with 50% of his gross wages when his wife petitioned for the divorce so she could screw around with another guy. My wife divorced me because she didn't think I could support her life style after being severely injured in an auto accident. But I came back, cost me $25,000.00 to get my two kids, but I got them.

Later met a woman beyond my wildest dreams, only shortcoming of that was having to deal with the USCIS, but we got through that as well. Actually, everything worked out for the best, but didn't seem so at the time.

so I guess u had to explain all the cs drama to USCIS?

my situation wasn't that bad, its just that my ex, sending me the court while i was unemployed, wasnt a very nice gesture, i was unemployed for more than a year, and i tried to send some money whenever i had extra, u know the unemp checks are not a lot of money... so for the court is like i wasnt paying what we agreed, but they never looked that i was because i was unemployed.. now with a job i dont mind they withold from the check..but, i wanna make sure uscis doesn't see as i didnt wanna pay