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Crazy Ex

LauraC's picture

My husband and I have been married for 3 months and lived together for a year and a half prior to the wedding. Since his divorce (3yrs before we got together), his ex has tormented him regarding "child support". To give a little back story, my husband's ex left him and their two children. When she said she wanted a divorce, he helped her move out, find an apartment, etc. He has had custody of the kids ever since. She has them every other weekend and occasionally one night during the week, but only during the school year because that mid-week visit in the summer puts a kink in her summer fun. "Child support" was agreed upon at $1000 per month and would become alimony when the youngest turned 18. My ex has never paid this late and has even given her additional money when they first divorced to set up her car insurance! This was an agreement that they both came to because she did not want to wait to receive any of his retirement money nor did he want to pay her any of it. When the ex found out that she would have to wait until the state released her "support" money (which could be up to 10 days after the 1st of the month), she talked my husband into agreeing to make payments directly to her, bypassing the state. Big mistake.

She has used this against him ever since. Before we were married, my husband banked at the same bank as the ex. Once we married, we closed that account. Because he is such a nice guy, my ex would deposit the "support" check into the ex's account when he would be at the bank doing his own business. Since we were closing the account at their mutual bank, he told the ex (two weeks before we closed the account) that he would no longer be able to deposit her check and would hand deliver it to her on the Friday's that coincided with her visitation with the kids. She flipped out and told him that it was his responsibility to get that money to her and that he better get a lawyer because she could say all of the previous payments were a gift and that he had not paid 3 years worth of "support". My husband tried to reason with her, but anyone who has to deal with a crazy ex will tell you that you simply cannot reason with them. When my ex told me this, I told him "enough is enough" and that we were not going to let her manipulate or threaten him/us anymore. So the next day, we set up an appointment with our lawyer to set up an income deduction order where his employer would deduct the "support" money directly from his account and send it straight to the state where they would disperse the funds to the crazy ex.

Two days later, crazy ex calls to apologize. My husband explained that he accepted her apology but that we were proceeding with the change. Crazy ex thought this was ridiculous and we would be spending a ton of money when all he had to do was deposit her check for her. My husband told her that since she threatened him, he would proceed because he did not want to be in contempt.

Fast forward to a month later. The income deduction order was completed, signed by both parties (crazy ex and my husband), and signed by the judge. His employer began deducting the funds and as per the court order, they were deposited with the state prior to the first day of the month. Was that good enough for crazy ex? Nope! She called on the first asking where was her money. My husband told her, talk to the state. She accused him of being in contempt of court because she did not have the funds in her hands on the first. It is now the 4th day of the month. She still has not received her funds because according to the state, she will receive the money 72 hours after he is required to pay it. She even told him that he had to pay her directly because she hasn't received her money from the state, when it clearly states on the income deduction order that he is NOT to pay her anything once the deductions were taken by his employer. She is FUMING mad. She has called him multiple times, calling him every name in the book and told him that he is listening to "outside influences" (which I take to mean me). She has sent him harassing text messages, telling him how much she hates him and "what he has done" to her.

As the "outside influence", I have little experience dealing with a harassing ex, having had to do so myself until mine remarried, I assisted my husband in forwarding the voicemails to a tape recorder and forwarding the text messages to his email so that we will have them when we go to the Sheriff, who by the way is her boss, to report her for harassment.

It is so sad that the crazy ex cares about one thing and one thing only, money. Her children spend very little time with her, even when they are there for the weekend, because she pawns them off on their friend’s parents or they ask to come home early. My husband and I keep all of this mess away from the kids. As far as they know, we all get along well. However, when asked if they miss their parents living together, they both said that they like their lives and would not want to live with the crazy ex.

So to all of you dealing with a crazy ex, know that nasty people will always get their comeuppance. You may not get to see it happen, or maybe you will get that satisfaction, but know that it will happen.

Comments

Boston Gisele's picture

That is so terrible. It really sucks that the kids have to suffer because of their BM. I wish you the best of luck with this and hopefully she gets what she deserves.

SusiQ's picture

:jawdrop: How is it that he has custoday and is paying her CS of $1000? How old are your skids - that seems like an awful lot to pay - $12,000 a year to avoid having to split a retirement account - he must have a ton of $$ in that account.

Milomom's picture

Hi LauraC, welcome!!

I love how you put "child support" in quotes - especially in your situation, the money is definitely NOT being used to actually support the CHILDREN.

If you don't mind me asking, why in God's name does your DH pay $1,000/mo. to his ex for "child support" when HE is the custodial parent and SHE only has them EOWE???????????????????????????????

He should be collecting CS from HER, IMHO.

Also, your DH must not know the "no good deed goes unpunished" rule when it comes to crazy ex's (Crayon & I are strong believers in this). Your DH sounds a lot like her BF - he gave her EVERYTHING when they divorced and still had a post-divorce arrangement wherein the exW is TOTALLY taken care of with massive CS$$, etc...

You aren't alone. When my BF & his exW legally separated (before I met him), he had the same type of "nice guy" arrangement in their Separation Agreement...you know the kind. He obligated himself to pay: $70K to buy out "her 1/2" of the house, her car insurance for 4 years, her car payment (yes, you read that right, he bought her a brand new car when they separated!!!), kept her on his health insurance and the kids, paid for the roof over her head (paid her monthly rent in full in lieu of CS), and kept the kids 50/50 living with him, etc...

All of a sudden when I came along, she had him served with divorce papers and alleged that she never made this agreement, she didn't know what she was signing, she was under "duress", blah, blah, blah - and she tried to get the court to believe that all of this $$$$$ he was paying out was a "gift" and she wanted $2,000/mo. more for CS plus monthly "educational maintenance". I could go on and on and on.

That was many years ago. Fast forward, he paid off her car, paid her car insurance for all those years, and still continues to pay her monthly rent and still pays $700/mo. on top of all that for CS - and it still isn't good enough (or enough $$) to her.

Your DH sounds like he has "doormat" status with his exW like a lot of the men the ladies here talk about. Sounds to me like your DH tried to be "the nice guy", but these crazy exW's really could care less. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the almightly dollar for these women.

My advice: I don't know what state you live in, but is there a way to have the CS$$ modified to where SHE pays HIM CS$$$ since he is financially supporting the children???

Also, your DH needs to make sure he isn't being her "doormat" (and they all do this "for the sake of the kids") - make sure he treats her in a business-like fashion, doesn't do her any "favors", doesn't allow her to treat him like crap - he should just treat her PROFESSIONALLY like any other client, business associate, customer, etc...

He should tell her (and put in writing) that if she does anything further to harass him like she has been doing, he will have no other choice but to pursue legal action against her - and she will become liable for any consequences criminally AND civilly, including all legal fees incurred.

Good luck!! I hope this helps. You are certainly not alone. Sounds like you have a lot in common with lots of people here at StepTalk & we're glad you came by!!