- CORLETTA ELIMINATES ONEROUS ARREARS FOR CLIENT ON SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY.
In a complicated case involving capping child support arrears, for a person unable to work, who was having their Social Security benefits garnished for child support payments, Mr. Corletta achieved a double victory in Matter of Anonymous (Mon. Co. Fam. Ct., 3/25).
The case involved over 8 months of litigation, including a full Hearing, and involved capping of arrears, and reduction of the current child support amount.
The case required Mr. Corletta to garner records from the Child Support Enforcement Unit and Social Security, demonstrate the client’s income changed through no fault of their own, and that the client was living below the federal poverty line thereby capping any accrued arrears at $500.00. It required knowledge of several different areas of the law.
Even more egregious was that the “arrearages” were being paid to the client’s former spouse; an incarcerated sex offender, who was pursuing the claim in order to unjustly enrich themselves with back support payments from a needy person, to use in their “commissary” account, not to support the “child”, who was emancipated and working.
Mr. Corletta stopped this dead in its tracks, reduced the arrears to the minimum level allowed by law, and ended the child support payments; all over the vigorous objections of the ex-spouse, who attempted to demean and belittle Mr. Corletta’s client by delaying the proceeding, arguing with Mr. Corletta and attempting to embarrass. Mr. Corletta’s client through frivolous cross-examination, which Mr. Corletta completely blocked.
Mr. Corletta did this for minimal attorney fees, given the client’s financial situation and that he could not be awarded attorney fees by the Court, because according to the Court, the ex-spouse was incarcerated. Mr. Corletta did not agree with that portion of the analysis, because the ex-spouse knew they should not have been receiving the payments and spent them on themselves, not the “child”.
However, the major aspects of the Petition were achieved; elimination of the child support payments and elimination of all arrears, which totaled almost $5,000.00.
The client was quite grateful for Mr. Corletta’s persistent and vigorous efforts in a case which was virtually pro bono.