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Husband Notices Overpayments Garnished From Wages After a Couple of Years and Then Tries to Get Credit for Overpayments, But Court Rules They?re Voluntary Payments Due to Husband?s Prolonged Negligence

By Janet Langjahr

Arkansas trial court enters temporary order establishing child support and alimony obligations.

Husband pays via wage garnishment.

Final judgment actually reduces total support obligation by over $600 per month.

Husband does not take steps to have new garnishment order entered and served on his employer. (This would be Husband’s responsibility.)

Husband’s wages continue to be garnished at the higher level of the temporary support order.

Husband apparently does not notice that he is overpaying for a couple of years.

Once Husband notices a couple of years later, Husband seeks to receive credit against future payments equal to the amount of his past overpayments.

Trial court rules against Husband, concluding that it was Husband’s responsibility to pay attention to how much he is paying relative to how much he is required to pay and ruling that the overpayments are voluntary.

It would certainly seem that Husband was able to make the higher temporary support payments without undue hardship motivating him to carefully review the garnishment records.

Moral of Case: wake up and get with it.

Read more in this Mens News Daily editorial: Court Rules Child Support Overpayment = Windfall to Mom and the actual legal opinion

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on December 12, 2009 (boomark / email).