Child Support Evidence - How to provide sufficient proof? Pls Help!

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NotBonJovi

Registered Users (C)
My interview is in less than a month and I have received an unexpected setback which makes me worried.

My story - I got divorced in 2005 from my USC wife who has physical custody of our 10 year old daughter. I have been providing child support pursuant to the court decree. Initially, I paid her cash, transferred directly to her account or paid her bills directly in lieu of the support. I was also unemployed and out of the country during 2006-7 taking care of my cancer stricken mother, who passed away. I informed the court of my job loss, but that did not help in reducing my monthly payments. So, I fell behind in payments during those times. When I returned to the US, I caught up and have been regular in my payments.

When I filed my N400, I had told my ex-wife that I would need a notarized affidavit from her stating that I have been regular in my payments and owe no arrears. She agreed at that time. But now, when I sent her the draft of the affidavit, she refuses to sign it. She says she is not sure if I had paid all I owe her and so does not want to provide me the affidavit. I have offered to pay what she considers as 'arrears', but at this moment she is not willing to listen and is being difficult. To confound the problem, we are two time zones away and getting her on phone is proving to be difficult.

What is my recourse now? Would like to hear from seniors of this forum like Bigjoe5 etc., How deep of a trouble am I in?

Thanks for hearing me out. Waiting for your advice & suggestions. What options, if any, do I have now?
 
BigJoe5, Bobsmyth & other seniors - Any inputs?

I do have proof of recent payments via cancelled checks. However, trying to prove for the past time period is where I am stuck. I was counting on getting the affidavit, but did not expect her to change her mind at this stage.
 
NotBonJovi said:
BigJoe5, Bobsmyth & other seniors - Any inputs?

I do have proof of recent payments via cancelled checks. However, trying to prove for the past time period is where I am stuck. I was counting on getting the affidavit, but did not expect her to change her mind at this stage.
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This is an unfortunate situation that underscores the necessity of establishing a paper trail. Did you make transfers to your ex-wife's account directly from your account? If yes, you may be able to obtain bank records of these transfers, which would be sufficient to prove past child support payments. If not, your situation may be a bit more difficult to resolve. Since your ex is already being unreasonable, what's to stop her from going to court and claiming that you never paid the child support for which you have no proof? You've made an offer to pay her what she feels you may have underpaid, but she's not budging. I wouldn't be surprised if she tries to extort money from you.

I would try to amass any and all bank records showing money transfers to your ex-wife's account. Of course, it can't hurt trying to reason with her. If there is no animosity between the two of you, you may want to tell her that your citizenship depends on it.
 
Thanks Vorpal. I am trying to gather all bank statements, but I know that will not be enough. I have politely requested her again, but have no update as of now.
 
NotBonJovi said:
Thanks Vorpal. I am trying to gather all bank statements, but I know that will not be enough. I have politely requested her again, but have no update as of now.
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Hey Not Bon,
I wish I knew more about child support laws, and what would be considered "acceptable" for the USCIS, but I don't. I just want to give you some food for thought maybe you can do more research.

-Is there an actual open child support case against you?
If there is not, then there's nothing to say that you owe her until she files a claim in Child Support Services.

-Can you provide proof of at least the last year of payments?
If you can do this, and have a good reason for not providing prior proof, it can be beneficial.

-Get professional help.
This is one of the things that I wouldn't even doubt on paying a lawyer for advice. This is your US CITIZENSHIP, do what you got to do.
 
X3-T - Thanks. I am consulting my attorney today. Will come back and update.

No, I don't have an open child support case against me. Just what was mentioned in my divorce decree and I have been paying her without fail for 4 years.
 
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Update

I consulted my attorney and was asked to do the following -

1. To contact the court located in state and county in which my ex-wife and child live and check for any updates to my case regarding child support. I called and found out that there is no update since the divorce was granted and there is no child support case against me. I have ordered certified records of the case which will reflect this.

2. To politely negotiate with my ex-wife and see if she can give any form of affidavit that states that I have been regular in my payments.

X3-T- Once again, Thanks for your suggestions!
 
NotBonJovi said:
1. To contact the court located in state and county in which my ex-wife and child live and check for any updates to my case regarding child support. I called and found out that there is no update since the divorce was granted and there is no child support case against me. I have ordered certified records of the case which will reflect this.

2. To politely negotiate with my ex-wife and see if she can give any form of affidavit that states that I have been regular in my payments.
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I expect that you're not going to say anything to her about the court updates ... don't give her any ideas to report anything to the court!

Hopefully with proof of the past couple years of payments, plus a statement from the court showing there is no claim for arrears, you'll be in good shape for the naturalization interview.
 
Jackolantern said:
I expect that you're not going to say anything to her about the court updates ... don't give her any ideas to report anything to the court!...
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LOL! Ofcourse not.

Jackolantern - Thanks. I have not yet given up on negotiating with my ex to get some form of letter that states I have been paying her regularly. Preferably notarized.
 
Update

I got the latest court documents on my case. The good news is that I have no child support arrears claim against me during during the 7 years after divorce was granted.
However, I still don't have sufficient proof of payments to convince the IO that I have been regular.

Ex-spouse is still not relenting and is not willing to provide me the affidavit. I have been as polite and nice as possible, but she is not budging. I am running out of ideas now...
 
Well all you can do for now is bring that court document to the interview, along with proof for the past 1 or 2 years of payments and hope it will be sufficient. They have to be aware that some ex-spouses will not cooperate, so with the documents you have I don't think they'll suspend or deny your case because of the lack of the affidavit. At this point it might be better to just stop bothering her about this issue, so she doesn't stir up trouble by reporting some story to the court.
 
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Jackolantern - Thanks again. Yes, I am going to let the sleeping dog lie and not stir up any trouble at this moment.

Will update this thread if I have anything further to share.
 
Hey NotBonJovi,

Try putting your questions at this forum. It looks like attorney answers most of the questions..

Good Luck.
 
Epilogue

The end of this story is an anti-climax. I did manage to get an affidavit from my ex-wife just 2 days before my interview. She modified it, so I was not sure if the IO would accept it, though she did mention that I was current and up to date in my payments. I could breathe now and went for my interview feeling a bit more confident, yet nervous as I also had the continuous residence issue to tackle.

At the interview, the IO neither asked me for the tax transcripts nor the child support evidence. He was not happy with my break in residence, but was convinced when I told him I had to take the long break to take care of my cancer stricken mother.

That's it. He approved me and I completed my Oath same day. All done. :)

Jackolantern - Thanks for your advice and encouraging words.

osheth, X3-T & vorpal - Thank you for your tips, guys.
 
Thanks for the update.

NotBonJovi said:
At the interview, the IO neither asked me for the tax transcripts nor the child support evidence. He was not happy with my break in residence, but was convinced when I told him I had to take the long break to take care of my cancer stricken mother.
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I guess that means you didn't give the IO the affidavit from her, and you also didn't take any individual trips of over 6 months? If you took any trips of over 6 months they're not supposed to approve you unless you provide sufficient evidence of your ties to the US during that trip (unless you're exempt from having to do that, such as because you're in the US military or had an N-470).
 
Jackolantern - I took two trips. One lasting 175 days and the other lasting 1 year and 7 months. For the second trip, I had a re-entry permit. I had applied under the 4 years and 1 day rule. I and my attorney reminded the IO of that rule, when he first looked at my dates and said I was not eligible for approval. When we mentioned the rule, he thought for a few seconds, did not bother to ask further and moved on with the rest of the application.

And yes, I did not give the affidavit or court documents as he never bothered to ask about them.
 
NotBonJovi,

Congratulations on your naturalization. Glad to hear that you didn't have any child support-related issues.
 
NotBonJovi said:
The end of this story is an anti-climax. I did manage to get an affidavit from my ex-wife just 2 days before my interview. She modified it, so I was not sure if the IO would accept it, though she did mention that I was current and up to date in my payments. I could breathe now and went for my interview feeling a bit more confident, yet nervous as I also had the continuous residence issue to tackle.

At the interview, the IO neither asked me for the tax transcripts nor the child support evidence. He was not happy with my break in residence, but was convinced when I told him I had to take the long break to take care of my cancer stricken mother.

That's it. He approved me and I completed my Oath same day. All done. :)

Jackolantern - Thanks for your advice and encouraging words.

osheth, X3-T & vorpal - Thank you for your tips, guys.
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So happy for you! Congratulations!
 
Affidavit Child Support format

I have a Divorced Decree and in it is described how much i have to provide as child support and also says something about a percentage what it is confused for me.
I am not sure what it is dictated in the decree match what I give for child support. However I have an implicit agreement with my wife and
I give her a certain amount of money every month and I also cover any extra expenses when it is needed.
I read in a previous post here that there is an Affidavit Child support format in "October 2011 filer thread" posted by X3-T but I could not find it.
This a document that I hope my ex-wife sign without issues.
I would appreciate it if X3-T could post this format again or if someone else could do it for me.

Thank you.
 
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