Do I have any recourse in child support claim?

Location: Arizona

This is a long story that I will try to keep brief: ex wife and I divorced in Arizona in July of 2024. Child support was backdated to April of 2024. I had already been paying her directly the amount we agreed upon (a higher amount than the calculator said I’d have to by a few hundred dollars). I was told an ATLAS case would be created through the state and to start paying the child support through that. Cut to October of ’24, there’s still no case made. I’ve been paying her directly because I have no way to pay through the state. I contact my lawyer from the case and ask about it, they contact the state, the state says “whoopsies our bad” and a case is made within like a week. That next month I start making payments through the state.

February of this year, the state suddenly tells me that I have 7 months of child support arrears from April through October of ’24, and it’s going to start accruing interest. I contact my lawyer, they say that the divorce decree has language in it which states that any payment I make direct is considered a gift. I had not seen that, obviously. They say that they’ll have the ex wife sign and notarize an “Affidavit of Direct Payment” acknowledging the payments I made, and it will clear the arrears. I ask her to do this, she says she will.

It’s now been 6 months of back and forth with her saying she’ll do it, claiming she has done it, then saying she hasn’t, back and forth back and forth. About 3 months ago the state started charging me an additional $200-ish per paycheck to start paying back the arrears. My budget is already tight, so I put the pressure on her to please finish this paperwork. She is now currently saying that on 7/10 she filled it out and sent it in, but every time I call the state they say they haven’t received anything.

Meanwhile, I was in a car accident last month, and come to find out today that the entire settlement check I was expecting is being sent to the child support arrears. It’s almost $10k. Which, again, is of money I’ve already given her.

I don’t know wtf to do. Am I just screwed out of this money? I believe I have somewhere something in writing with her confirming that those payments I made were for the purposes of child support. Do I sue? Do I just wait? I’ve been holding off on contacting my attorney from the divorce because I don’t want needless bills sent my way and the last time we spoke they pretty much just said “yeah shes gotta fill out that affidavit thats about it.”