About Jonathan Ginsberg

Dear Jonathan,

My husband filed for divorce in May, I was awarded disability in August. One child moved in with her dad in August, other child still residing with me. Only recently did anyone know my disability was approved. Divorce is still pending. Husband filed bankruptcy December 1st, and now seeking to become representative payee of our child living with him to collect her auxillary benefit. Should he be allowed to collect this money considering his recent bankruptcy filing?

Dear Jonathan,

My husband lost his custody battle for his daughter 15 years ago. Within months after that loss the child’s Mother (1) started collecting SSD for herself and the child in question and (2) abscounded with the child. The mother also spent several years in prison, pawning her children off on various non-related people over the years. The child was recently reunited with her father, who is now saddled with an incredible support arrearages bill. From what I understand from the information on your site, he has a pretty good case to have the auxiliary benefits that were collected for the child, to offset his child support obligations. My question is, what kind of action is brought in order to secure that offset– a “Motion to Offset Child Support with Auxiliary Benefits”? I checked out Cook County’s self-help website regarding forms, etc., and of course, none of them are applicable. Thank you in advance for any advise/assistance you may be able to provide. ~Steph

I was wondering how child support is handled for a child that gets ssi? Is it any different for a child that doesnt collect it? I have tried looking it up on the internet and it doesnt tell me anything. Thank you so much!

ex husband died I was receiving monthly benefits from ssid he owes 28 thousand in back child support will I receive any back child support now that he has died.

@Steph: Steph, I feel for you and your husband, believe me, I do. My ex-wife absconded with our two children while I was on my final deployment with the Army, and she has put me through the ringer trying to get my parental rights removed, etc. ever since — I’ve fought her in eight court cases over the last seven years and won all but one case, but I’ve spent enough money to buy a house outright, and I’ve learned a lot.

Why did your husband wait so long to get custody of his daughter? He should have done that as soon as her mother went to prison.

You’re not going to like the way this is going to play out. First, Social Security will NOT get involved in family court matters, period. Whomever the child receiving benefits resides with is entitled to receive and disburse the child’s SSDI benefits on behalf of the child, without exception. Similarly, Child Support is viewed as the child’s money. And finally, your husband’s child support obligation cannot legally be offset by the child’s SSDI benefits unless those benefits are being paid as a result of your husband’s SSDI claim, which they were not. It boils down to this: the child’s mother had an obligation to provide support for her child which you say she “pawned off on various unrelated people,” and she presumably did so via the child’s SSDI benefits, which were paid against her claim; and, the child’s father had an obligation to provide support for his child IAW his court ordered child support obligation, and rightful use and disbursement of that child support could be presumed to be the right of whomever was providing the child with full-time care in the form of domicile, clothing and food. The fact of the matter is that all of these people with whom this child’s mother “pawned” her off while incarcerated may actually have a case for recovery against your husband.

Most states will wait a period of time after a child has turned 18 and then just close out the books on cases, and in some circumstances (this seems one that would be a good candidate) they will close the case with a balance even while the children are still below the age of 18 if there is no activity.

The best advice I can give you and your husband is to give this one time and hope no one else opens a case for recovery, because he’ll lose. If there is any kind of judgment appearing on your husband’s credit history, wait for the judgment to be at least ten years old, and then if you want to risk it, challenge it to get it removed from his credit history through the credit reporting agencies. Be warned, though — even doing this could trigger someone at a state agency to contact his ex-wife and ask if she wants to seek recovery.

Jonathan,
When I fill in the child support worksheet, my paymnet is calculated at $1,192.00. I am receiving SSDi, which I included in my income figure. I filed under my disability for the kids and that benefit goes to their mom. When I add this $1,032.00 beneft number to the worksheet, in her column, it increase the payment to $1,736. The benefit offsets dollar for dollar and recalculates my payment to $704.00. Since the benefit is mot income to me and goes straight to their mom, why is the resulting obligation higher?
Thanks for any insight you can provide.