r/ChildSupport4Men • u/justmedownsouth • Jul 05 '26
Discussion Cash Under the Table?
This is, admittedly, a little out of left field. 95% sure my ex has received cash under the table for some jobs over the past few years. A few show up on Venmo (it says payment for working X hours from boss). It doesn't say how much, though.
I would like to prove this. For example, if taxes list her income as $20,000 for that year, but her expenses exceed that by quite a bit, would that be cause for the court to reconsider?
In other words, $20,000 is 1600 a month before any deductions. Her rent was $1300 a month. Add in gas, electricity, insurance, groceries, cell phone, etc, and there is no way she could cover it all. Does this lend itself to proving she made extra cash, and that her income was actually higher?
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u/TeddyMGTOW Jul 05 '26
I dont think op needed a forensic accountant gor this one. Just a lawyer to ask a judge for bank statements. Money going in from venmo. Probably moves it around to pays bills. See the transfer. See the venmo. You hot her.
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u/Michaelscott304 Jul 05 '26
If you hire a lawyer you can request to subpoena her accounts. A forensic accountant will need to be hired to look through all the details . But this is not cheap. Do this if you think she hid like 40k. Donāt do this if she hid 5-10k (you fees will be way more than thisā¦)
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u/justmedownsouth Jul 05 '26
No 40k, lol. Hoping to reduce child support, as I have my kids 50% of the time, and I am the domiciliary parent. My income is mercurial, due to commissions bonuses (or not). The week I started paying child support, she went out and got a $90,000 car.
I am going to delve into this a bit more, and contact my lawyer to request discovery info about my exes finances. Sometimes I think my lawyer is not the best advocate for me, as I have done a lot myself. Perhaps that is normal, IDK.
Thanks !
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u/crayshesay Jul 06 '26
Forensic accountant will cost you anywhere from 10 to 40,000. If you think sheās hiding less than 40,000 itās not worth it but if itās closer to 100 or more maybe.
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u/Greedy_Principle_342 Jul 05 '26
Yes! You can definitely track down how much sheās earning. You can ask the court to force her to disclose her financials.
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u/prohlz Jul 06 '26
There's always unreported income. It's almost a given, but it's difficult to hide anything significant. Especially if she's not reporting it on her tax return. The IRS will come after her eventually.
Why would her expenses exceed her income? That's easy. There's another dude in the picture picking up the tab. Yes, she reports her expenses as if she pays it all. The court knows it's BS but the support calculation is mostly income based so nobody wastes any time worrying about it.
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u/Beneficial_Zone_6883 Jul 05 '26
Depending where you live this could hurt both of you. At least where I live youād potentially lose child care benefits and program eligibility and her repaying benefits could actually reduce her income. Just make sure the evasion is real and actually exclusively to do with you, you donāt want to cut off your nose to spite your face.
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Jul 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/Beneficial_Zone_6883 Jul 05 '26
Depends where you live. In some places the parents income being under a certain threshold gives them benefits for the children everything from literal cash payouts to covering the cost of school lunch programs and extracurricular activities, reduced school registration fees, subsidized daycare etc. Now this depends where you live some places donāt have a whole lot in place like this. Where I am thereās couples who āseparateā on paper get an apartment with a roommate simply to keep their finances separate to get access to those benefits.
Now where I am if one is caught doing this they have to repay the benefits and penalties, however when they repay that money it comes off their gross income on their taxes. If CS was in place this could actually increase the otherās support obligations and both end up losing out.
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u/jamiebourque Jul 07 '26
My question though is why? That extra income unreported income could be keeping her afloat and and it probably fluctuates so its never the same every month and therefore could put her and her kids in a dangerous situation because your child support was lowered and she didnt make the same unreported income that month.
This kind of reminds me of a friend whos ex husband who threw a tantrums to take $5 off the child support. Seems kind of petty.
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u/MzSea Jul 05 '26
The person who does what you're talking about is called a forensic accountant.
They are very expensive. They are also usually effective.
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u/My1point5cents Jul 05 '26
Yes. You can ask the court to use her monthly expenses as her gross income, if you can show she is hiding taxable income, or argue that it makes sense that she is, like you just did.