Pay of Child Support Early?

I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it off early if I
liquidate some assets? Will the state/county let me?

"Simpledog" wrote:
I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it
off early if I liquidate some assets? Will the state/county
let me?

It will likely confuse their accounting system which is from
sometime in last century. You may be credited for one
month's payment and dunned for the others, and you will
lose out on the interest or dividends you could earn with
sticking the money in a series of laddered CD's or bonds.

My 2 cents: Set up a savings or brokerage account in which
they send out a recurring automatic payment. They may not
be able to pay the CS directly, but you can ask. Its a cheap
form of trust account. Two online bankers who I deal with...
HSBC Savings and Chase... might be able do it. =R=

"Simpledog" wrote in message
...
I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it off early if I
liquidate some assets? Will the state/county let me?

I've always wondered the same, although I've never seriously researched It.
I've pondered over what would happen If you pay child support and say... won
millions In the powerball. Could the ex sue for more money? Is It considered
income? If the cse office let you pay off amounts In advance, you could be
sly and pay It all off in one lump sum. I dunno...

"Dusty Steenbock" wrote in message
...

"Simpledog" wrote in message
...
I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it off early if I
liquidate some assets? Will the state/county let me?

I've always wondered the same, although I've never seriously researched
It. I've pondered over what would happen If you pay child support and
say... won millions In the powerball. Could the ex sue for more money? Is
It considered income? If the cse office let you pay off amounts In
advance, you could be sly and pay It all off in one lump sum. I dunno...

I'm willing to bet that they would tell you that any amount you paid in
advance was a gift, and that your child needed "ongoing support"--not a lump
sum. It would be better to squirrel it away, and pay it out gradually, just
in case.

"Simpledog" wrote in message
...
I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it off early if I
liquidate some assets? Will the state/county let me?

Many states have administrative rules covering excess payments and refunds.
They include refunding over-payments within a stipulated period of time, and
suspending garnishments if the money has already been sent "into the home"
to use up credit balances.

The problem with attempting to pay early is it eliminates any possibility of
modification for a change of circumstance. If an event occurs (a child
dies, the mother dies, custody changes, etc.) there is no way to get the
money back.

"teachrmama" wrote in message
...

"Dusty Steenbock" wrote in message
...

"Simpledog" wrote in message
...
I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it off early if
I
liquidate some assets? Will the state/county let me?

I've always wondered the same, although I've never seriously researched
It. I've pondered over what would happen If you pay child support and
say... won millions In the powerball. Could the ex sue for more money?
Is
It considered income? If the cse office let you pay off amounts In
advance, you could be sly and pay It all off in one lump sum. I dunno...

I'm willing to bet that they would tell you that any amount you paid in
advance was a gift, and that your child needed "ongoing support"--not a
lump
sum. It would be better to squirrel it away, and pay it out gradually,
just
in case.

I agree. But then again, on the first of any given month, are you not also
paying for the remainder of that month "in advance"? I don't know that
paying off a legal debt would be illegal. And it would seem to me that
paying off a "child support" debt is no different than paying off a
mortgage. Once it's paid, it's PAID.

"Chris" wrote in message
...

I agree. But then again, on the first of any given month, are you not also
paying for the remainder of that month "in advance"? I don't know that
paying off a legal debt would be illegal. And it would seem to me that
paying off a "child support" debt is no different than paying off a
mortgage. Once it's paid, it's PAID.

It is important to understand how the CS collection/disbursement process
works and use the correct language.

CS obligations "accrue" on the first day of the month. Payments through
wage garnishments are made during the month and sent to the CS accounting
unit to cover the current month obligation. Future CS accruals do not occur
until the first of each month. There is no lump sum owed that can be paid
off.

Payments in excess of the monthly CS accruals and any arrears amount are
considered "overpayments." Overpayments (in my state) are supposed to be
returned to the obligor within 30 days. If overpayments are mistakenly sent
"into the home" CS collections are "suspended" until the credit balance is
used up. These same rules apply to overpayments resulting from tax refund
seizures after any arrearage has been paid off.

Unless an error occurs with an overpayment slipping past the system, there
is no way to pre-pay future CS obligations.

One option available to NCP's is to set up a court approved "escrow account"
that will hold the amount required to make future CS payments and disburse
the money as monthly CS accruals occur.

You would wind up paying it off and then getting hit fir more see how to
minimize support at http://www.lowersupport.com
"Simpledog" wrote in message
...
I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it off early if I
liquidate some assets? Will the state/county let me?

"Bob Whiteside" wrote in message
...

"Chris" wrote in message
...

I agree. But then again, on the first of any given month, are you not
also
paying for the remainder of that month "in advance"? I don't know that
paying off a legal debt would be illegal. And it would seem to me that
paying off a "child support" debt is no different than paying off a
mortgage. Once it's paid, it's PAID.

It is important to understand how the CS collection/disbursement process
works and use the correct language.

CS obligations "accrue" on the first day of the month. Payments through
wage garnishments are made during the month and sent to the CS accounting
unit to cover the current month obligation. Future CS accruals do not
occur
until the first of each month. There is no lump sum owed that can be paid
off.

When they tell you that you owe X amount of dollars per month for Y number
of months, simple math tells you that the grand total is X times Y. Why not
skip the middle man escrow and let the state be their OWN "escrow" company?


Payments in excess of the monthly CS accruals and any arrears amount are
considered "overpayments." Overpayments (in my state) are supposed to be
returned to the obligor within 30 days. If overpayments are mistakenly
sent
"into the home" CS collections are "suspended" until the credit balance is
used up. These same rules apply to overpayments resulting from tax refund
seizures after any arrearage has been paid off.

Unless an error occurs with an overpayment slipping past the system, there
is no way to pre-pay future CS obligations.

One option available to NCP's is to set up a court approved "escrow
account"
that will hold the amount required to make future CS payments and disburse
the money as monthly CS accruals occur.

"Bob Whiteside" wrote in message
...

"Simpledog" wrote in message
...
I have roughly 3 years left on child support. Can I pay it off early if
I
liquidate some assets? Will the state/county let me?

Many states have administrative rules covering excess payments and
refunds.
They include refunding over-payments within a stipulated period of time,
and
suspending garnishments if the money has already been sent "into the home"
to use up credit balances.

The problem with attempting to pay early is it eliminates any possibility
of
modification for a change of circumstance. If an event occurs (a child
dies, the mother dies, custody changes, etc.) there is no way to get the
money back.

Not only that, but based on the same story heard over and over again here,
it's a real nightmare trying to recover money collected in excess of the
judgement amount. Hence, I have difficulty believing that the government
would actually refund any overage; or at least not without a fight.