It is not unusual for a child support payor to fall behind in payments to the payee.  Job loss, health issues, and other circumstances can result in the payor accruing a very large child support arrearage to the payee.

In the case at hand, father, due to job loss, had fallen behind in his child support payments to mother in an amount exceeding $50,000 over a number of years.  What was he to do?  Even though he is continuing to make regular weekly support payments to mother, it would take him many years to catch up on the arrearage.  Father came to me with this problem.

On many such occasions the payee (mother) is willing to accept a lump sum payment in lieu of waiting a very long time for father to catch up (if he ever does.)  I contacted mother to see if she was willing to negotiate the arrearage.  The outcome of the case is that father came up with $20,000 by refinancing his home. Mother was willing to accept $20,000 now, instead of waiting many years for father to make up all payments. This arrangement benefits both parties.  Father no longer is looking at a debt which he could never pay, and mother received a lump sum payment now instead of waiting for full payment.

The "moral of the story" is that an experienced family law attorney can often fashion unorthodox solutions to difficult situations, which satisfy both parties to a dispute.