Time to ask for opinions. I've been so continually fed up the the DOR in Florida I'm just beyond irritated. I'm not out of options, but I have to find a way to do things with minimal cost.
Backstory is that ex and I divorced in 2000. We are joint/joint with ex as CP. In 2003 we both got remarried. Ex moved one county over the summer before ODD was to start high school. ODD wanted to come live with me. I filed for custody of all three kids. Ex's retaliation was to deny visitation down to state minimum (EOW) for the year it took to get to court. Judge urged a settlement agreement. Ex would not agree to joint 55 him/45 me unless he got CS. I agreed at the time, knowing it would change when ODD turned 18.
When ODD turned 18, I went to ex and showed the calculation. With 55/45, me paying all medical and me doing 95% of transportation, it ended up a wash. Ex agreed, I agreed. My mistake was not filing this with the court.
Fast forward to 12/08. Ex buys house #2, and files with the DOR on the old CS order. DOR begins garnishing paycheck. In my field I was able to find a job at 20 hrs. Majority of week is spent shuttling kids as driving them to school and back to pick up is four hours roundtrip. My salary had been enough for our household to run smoothly. Now almost a year into paying CS, our bills are getting further and further behind.
I have gone the rounds with DOR. This is where I need help because I'm not quite sure what to do now. I have been lied to by DOR so many times it's almost unreal.
Filed with them to change CS and was told I'd get a court hearing, and anything else I had could be presented to the judge. Great, so I waited. Next thing I get a letter saying CS is to be RAISED! No no no. So I go back, and ask for the person in charge of modifications, provide her all of the info above. She agreed with my calculations that CS should be zero, and tells me my hearing will be scheduled in a month. Two months later I get two letters in the mail on the same day. First letter says CS is calculated to stay the same. Second letter says this case is now closed. No hearing. So I go BACK to DOR and ask to speak to the modification specialist. I wait the hour and a half, get back to the glassed-in cubicle, and there is someone else there. I ask about the modification specialist, and she tells me that "XXXXX" does not see clients. Period, end of story I cannot see anyone else about this matter, "we're done with you", and if I want to proceed I can file in the courts on my own. I am not allowed to see what ex has entered in as his financial info on his side of the forms, and will not see them until they're put into our court file. Months later I'm still waiting for that to happen.
Ticked off, I called the complaint line for the Governor's Office, who gave me a number to call with DOR. Of course they didn't call back. It took four people being left messages before I finally got a call back. Her instructions? File for a reconsideration and refile everything I already have and hope for a better result. Some help.
Some worker in a back room calculated this, no one will let me see HOW they calculated because then they would have to show ex's financial info, and even though every time I go they tell me I can tell everything else I have to the judge (ex is working under the table for a friend, runs a business that is not registered in the state of Florida, etc etc etc.) who will make the final decision.
Does anyone have any idea what I can do shy of filing on my own? That is my ace in the hole, but if I can do this through DOR I can not have to shell out huge bucks. If I do this on my own, I'm really on my own as it'll be pro se.
There's a whole lot more to the story, but that is the crux of it. I'll be glad to embellish if it helps someone help me.
Backstory is that ex and I divorced in 2000. We are joint/joint with ex as CP. In 2003 we both got remarried. Ex moved one county over the summer before ODD was to start high school. ODD wanted to come live with me. I filed for custody of all three kids. Ex's retaliation was to deny visitation down to state minimum (EOW) for the year it took to get to court. Judge urged a settlement agreement. Ex would not agree to joint 55 him/45 me unless he got CS. I agreed at the time, knowing it would change when ODD turned 18.
When ODD turned 18, I went to ex and showed the calculation. With 55/45, me paying all medical and me doing 95% of transportation, it ended up a wash. Ex agreed, I agreed. My mistake was not filing this with the court.
Fast forward to 12/08. Ex buys house #2, and files with the DOR on the old CS order. DOR begins garnishing paycheck. In my field I was able to find a job at 20 hrs. Majority of week is spent shuttling kids as driving them to school and back to pick up is four hours roundtrip. My salary had been enough for our household to run smoothly. Now almost a year into paying CS, our bills are getting further and further behind.
I have gone the rounds with DOR. This is where I need help because I'm not quite sure what to do now. I have been lied to by DOR so many times it's almost unreal.
Filed with them to change CS and was told I'd get a court hearing, and anything else I had could be presented to the judge. Great, so I waited. Next thing I get a letter saying CS is to be RAISED! No no no. So I go back, and ask for the person in charge of modifications, provide her all of the info above. She agreed with my calculations that CS should be zero, and tells me my hearing will be scheduled in a month. Two months later I get two letters in the mail on the same day. First letter says CS is calculated to stay the same. Second letter says this case is now closed. No hearing. So I go BACK to DOR and ask to speak to the modification specialist. I wait the hour and a half, get back to the glassed-in cubicle, and there is someone else there. I ask about the modification specialist, and she tells me that "XXXXX" does not see clients. Period, end of story I cannot see anyone else about this matter, "we're done with you", and if I want to proceed I can file in the courts on my own. I am not allowed to see what ex has entered in as his financial info on his side of the forms, and will not see them until they're put into our court file. Months later I'm still waiting for that to happen.
Ticked off, I called the complaint line for the Governor's Office, who gave me a number to call with DOR. Of course they didn't call back. It took four people being left messages before I finally got a call back. Her instructions? File for a reconsideration and refile everything I already have and hope for a better result. Some help.
Some worker in a back room calculated this, no one will let me see HOW they calculated because then they would have to show ex's financial info, and even though every time I go they tell me I can tell everything else I have to the judge (ex is working under the table for a friend, runs a business that is not registered in the state of Florida, etc etc etc.) who will make the final decision.
Does anyone have any idea what I can do shy of filing on my own? That is my ace in the hole, but if I can do this through DOR I can not have to shell out huge bucks. If I do this on my own, I'm really on my own as it'll be pro se.
There's a whole lot more to the story, but that is the crux of it. I'll be glad to embellish if it helps someone help me.