DCSE/CS

[dipper]

We had sent a letter to DCSE regarding BM's employer sending in payments willie-nillie, not on any schedule.  We also asked about the arrearage that she has owed for five months now.

In the meantime, we sent the rules of CS withholding to her employer as well.  Employer sent a letter back saying that due to year ending/IRS obligations "a" payment was overlooked but was sent in that day.  In fact, four payments were sent in as they had been holding them. Also, this has been a constant pattern- sending in every two weeks, a three week interval, one week intervals.....etc...  The letter was rude, unprofessional as her cousin is the president and the one that mailed the letter.

Payment came in this week as it should -consistent with her paydate.

I am sure her employer thinks we are scared, but little do they know that dh could take them to court for the past garnishments - they did not send in the correct amts.  WE know this by the amt BM told judge she made when CS was set.  They werent taking 25% out of her check (after taxes and insurance).  If dh took this to court, they would be liable for that money as a punishment - figuring about $900 atleast. He wont do it, but if they get ugly, that is an option

But, DCSE sent us a letter saying they had contacted employer about this matter as well.

DCSE also said that as BM was not 30 days behind, they would not attempt to collect.  They had previously sent her a letter, and that is all the action they will take.

To me, this is crazy.  I can understand why they dont drag everyone in court.  But, they have the employer's info, all they have to do is adjust withholding for four weeks to make up for the amt she owes.  The amount she owes is equal to what dh owed before when he was in hospital, but it was 30 days.....so they issued another wage withholding on his case.  

[notnew]

CSE offices get federal dollars for all the "deadbeat" parents they bring back to current or close to current. I don't know exactly what the criteria is to qualify for these federal incentives, but I can tell you that the only incentive it provides is for the CSE offices to manipulate things to make it look like more people are behind and they are doing a great job. This results in more federal bonus bucks at our expense again (our taxes at work). This works for a multitude of state level organizations like your local public schools who get federal bonus bucks when kids do well on standardized tests. Teach to the tests and get the bucks. Produce kids who can't read, make change, or put the toilet paper in the holder is insignificant.

Did you read the report about our narcissistic college age generation? Things are going to get much worse.

It's a crazy world we are living in.

[mistoffolees]

Probably just not worth their time. They have plenty of parents who aren't paying at all, so someone who's paying on a less regular schedule (but who eventually gets paid up).

Personally, I'd file against them mysefl both to send a message and to prevent future problems. Otherwise, you're going to be dealing with this until the kid(s) are 18. Get it done now (presumably pro se) and get it over with.  Use their letter as evidence of failure to abide by the court order.

If you don't want to go that far, send them a certified letter with a copy of the court order and say that you expect them to be curreing with 14 days and if you are not, you will be filing for back support, legal expenses, interest, and penalties. Copy everyone you can think of at the company - including both the President and the Board of directors.

IIRC, their failure to comply could also result in criminal penalties. If that's the case in your area, put it in the letter.

[Jade]

>We had sent a letter to DCSE regarding BM's employer sending
>in payments willie-nillie, not on any schedule.  We also asked
>about the arrearage that she has owed for five months now.
>
>In the meantime, we sent the rules of CS withholding to her
>employer as well.  Employer sent a letter back saying that due
>to year ending/IRS obligations "a" payment was overlooked but
>was sent in that day.  In fact, four payments were sent in as
>they had been holding them. Also, this has been a constant
>pattern- sending in every two weeks, a three week interval,
>one week intervals.....etc...  The letter was rude,
>unprofessional as her cousin is the president and the one that
>mailed the letter.
>
>Payment came in this week as it should -consistent with her
>paydate.
>
>I am sure her employer thinks we are scared, but little do
>they know that dh could take them to court for the past
>garnishments - they did not send in the correct amts.  WE know
>this by the amt BM told judge she made when CS was set.  They
>werent taking 25% out of her check (after taxes and
>insurance).  If dh took this to court, they would be liable
>for that money as a punishment - figuring about $900 atleast.
>He wont do it, but if they get ugly, that is an option
>
>But, DCSE sent us a letter saying they had contacted employer
>about this matter as well.
>
>DCSE also said that as BM was not 30 days behind, they would
>not attempt to collect.  They had previously sent her a
>letter, and that is all the action they will take.
>
>To me, this is crazy.  I can understand why they dont drag
>everyone in court.  But, they have the employer's info, all
>they have to do is adjust withholding for four weeks to make
>up for the amt she owes.  The amount she owes is equal to what
>dh owed before when he was in hospital, but it was 30
>days.....so they issued another wage withholding on his case.
>
>
>

Personally, I would take them to court.  Because they are going to continue messing around like they are until they are held accountable.  

And I would ask for them to pay your legal fees as well.  The legal action is a direct result of their failur to comply with the law.

[dipper]

"they are going to continue messing around like they are until they are held accountable. "

You guys are right about that one.  In the past three weeks, she sent in one payment.  It's just a game to them.

I realize that DCSE has bigger fish to fry, but all they have to do is send out another wage withholding notice to withhold X amount of dollars for the next four weeks.  Same amount of time it took to write her a letter requesting she pay her arrearage.

My ex is still over $10,000 behind.  Living in a neighboring state was like moving to another country.....

[mistoffolees]

I don't know how it works, but if your ex is over $10 K behind, can't you file a contempt action in court to collect? You should be able to collect the arrears plus your legal expenses. You may even be able to collect interest on that amount.

[dipper]

The fact that my ex lives in NC and we live in VA makes it a huge mess. A civil summons cannot be delivered in another state by law enforcement.  The clerk simply sends it be certified mail.  He of course has the option of seeing who it is from and then not taking it...

Years ago he was supposed to come in-state to see our girls.  I had filed and called the court to let them know what time frame they would have before my girls arrived where he was.  The police were able to deliver the summons before my girls arrived that day.

He will not take it certified.  Tried that a couple of years ago.  My only option would be to hire someone to deliver it personally..and then if he did not come to court, a bench warrant would be issued.  Now, from what I have been told if the CS is under $10,000 they will ONLY pick him up if he is pulled over for something else.  If it is over $10,000 the police are to actively search him out.

VA turned enforcement of this over to NC a couple of years ago...though it retains the case.  For a year I was told that I could not contact NC, though nothing was being done.  I finally looked up the main office myself and wrote to it.  I got a reply that NC NEVER took jurisdiction.  That ex was  not properly served the first time and then when info was requested of VA, it was not sent and therefore the case was closed.  VA still had enforcement while telling me that NC had it.

I wrote to the governor's office, the head of the local DCSE office, etc.....they tried to say the fault laid with NC.  However, they had never gotten confirmation of NC taking over, so why did they just assume they had?   It took me doing what they said I could not do for anything to happen.

Last year, NC finally had enforcement jurisdiction and started a garnishment.  He changed jobs again, but they found him, with my help in digging for employer.  

He is currenly paying arrears, but he pays like $100 toward arrears and $45 adds on for interest, so he only drops arrears by $55 each month....