PS - One more thing. Or two more things. Or three more things. Or four things.
1.) If you pay by check make sure you write in the memo line, "Child Support for [child's full name] for [insert the month AND the year that child support is for]. Send my mail, CMRR. If the person does NOT cash the check, you technically still "owe" the support even though you can prove that the person received the check via CMRR.
2.) If you wire the funds to the person's bank account, set it up to occur on the same day each month. Write on the memo line that it is for child support - see above.
And make PAPER copies of the bank statements showing the money was wired to that person's bank account, as well as keeping electronic copies.
If your bank sends a paper check through bill pay (instead of wiring the money), then make sure you go back and get a copy of the front and the back of the check.
3) If the person requests cash or a bill to be paid as "child support" - say NO!!! Absolutely don't do it!!! Keep to the same payment schedule and method. Tell the person that they can withdraw the cash they need after the support has been paid. Tell the person they can pay said bill after they have received the child support. STICK to the schedule! I have known cases where the person paying support paid cash and the other person claimed no money was received. I have known cases where the person paying support made the rent payment or a utility payment or a car payment (by request) as child support and the other person claimed no money was received!
4.) Set up a special bank account strictly for paying child support. Have money deposited to it each month. This way if the bank records are subpoenaed it will show just the child support business and not the rest of your business. (Some people are very vindictive and will use everything they can get their hands on to increase payments or to make you pay in other ways...)
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I was using bill pay to pay back a personal loan to a then friend. The bill payer service would send a paper check from my bank account to the then friend every two weeks. Then the bill payer decided to automatically withdraw the funds from my account on the payment date and then send a check from THEIR bank account. The friend always ran to cash the checks .
The then friend claimed I had stopped making payments and then later claimed I never made any payments! I was sued for the full amount of the loan.
It was easy to get copies of the checks that were mailed directly from my account. (I was saving them each time they posted.) It was near impossible to get copies of the checks that were mailed from the bill payer's account. Thankfully, I was able to show my bank statements that clearly showed regular withdrawals from my account every two weeks to this person. That coupled with the few checks I had copies of front and back, the judge ruled in my favor.
Btw, I used one account JUST for paying back this loan. No other business was conducted from this account.
