Legal Eaze #75 Child Support Garnishment/Selling Home

Title: August 18, 2004

Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 12 years of experience. She moved to Tehachapi in June 2003 and resides in Alpine Forest. She operates her law practice from her home office and also has a satellite office in Lancaster. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities.

Q. I have been paying my ex-wife child support for the last 10 years for my daughter. This has been done through garnishment of my paychecks. At the beginning of August, my daughter turned 18. How much longer am I supposed to pay child support for her?

A. You failed to tell me whether or not she graduated from high school yet. If she is still a full-time high school student, you must pay child support until she turns 19 year old or graduates from high school, whichever comes first. If your daughter graduated from high school already, you must file a Motion to Terminate the child support with the same court that ordered it. If your checks are being garnished, your employer needs a court order to terminate the garnishment. Unfortunately, garnishment does not stop automatically the day your daughter is no longer entitled to child support. You must initiate the change.

Q. I am purchasing a second home while selling my first one. I already live in the new home, despite the fact that escrow has not closed yet. I am paying rent to live there. The buyer of my “old” home and her agent have not contacted in more than six weeks, and it appears this buyer cannot get a loan, despite the fact that she was supposed to be pre-qualified. I had to fix several items that she requested I fix before escrow closes. The date we had decided for escrow to close has long past and gone. I now have a second buyer, who is eager to purchase my home for an all cash transaction. I don’t want to lose this second buyer. What do I do?

A. Without seeing your Agreement to Purchase, I can guess that the house purchase was contingent upon obtaining a loan. If she cannot get the loan she applied for and is now shopping around for another loan, it might be a while. I suggest that you give the buyer either a Notice to Perform or to Cancel the transaction. If the repaired items were not too terribly expensive, or if they were items that needed fixing no matter which buyer buys the house, you should return her deposit back at the end of the time stated on the Notice to Perform and Cancel. That way, there are no hard feelings, otherwise you might be entangled in protracted litigation over her deposit.

Forward questions to maxinedev@msn.com , drop questions at the Tehachapi News, located at 411 N. Mill St., or send them to POB 1840, Tehachapi, CA 93581