Thank you for your Reply,
I believe you can file an appeal and if you give me a few minutes, I will doublecheck the amount of time withi which you have to appeal the Judge's decision.
You may not have to wait that long to file another Petition for Modification; is there any way you can find out the Defendant's income? If Defedant's income incrased, that is a change of circumstances on which a Petition for Modification may be filed.
Q. Do you know what Defendant's income was at the time of the entry of the child support Order and what the income is today?
I will check that along with time to appeal. I thought I could have done it immediately, but I have some other questions I must answer. Is 25-30 minutes okay?
When she failed to comply with Discovery Request, why did you not fiel a Petition for Contempt?
ANDREA
Good Evening, again,
I checked Georgia Law on Child Support appeals and modifications.
An appeal may be filed within 30 days, but I would file it as soon as possible so that you could file either a Motion to Compel or a Petition for Contempt against your former wife so that you can get her updated income information because you were right about the restriction on filing Petitions to Modify.
I thought it might have changed when the new Support Guidelines went into effect, so I doublechecked. The restriction on filing only one Petition to Modify in a 2- year period remains in effect; I understand the reason behind it, to reduce the Court's caseload - However, in an economy where people are losing their jobs, reduced overtime, periodic layoffs resulting in the inability to pay the support amount set by the Court, defeats the purpose of Petitions to Modify in reduction situations.
Be sure to state in your appeal that you were fully prepared with all your financial information but the Judge refused to review it or enter it into evidence which would make anybody wonder how the Judge could decide any petition for modification without applying the rule - "Petitioner seeking modification must show a substanital change in circumstances" to warrant modification of a support order.
Some of the grounds or appeal would be
1. Judges actions were arbitrary with no basis in law or fact;
2. Misapplication of the law- Don't know what sections, if any, he used to decide your Petition, but, he certainly did not apply the "Substantial Change in Circumstances" standard
3. Judge abused his discretion
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Thank you
ANDREA , Member NY & PA Bar
Attorney
25 yrs exp successfully representing clients in my real estate, family law and criminal defense