QUESTION - Can the Child Support Dept find out where I am currently working?

[midwestdad]

Good day,

My question is - Can the Maryland Child Support Dept find out where I am currently working / my current employer?  If they can, how do they accomplish this exactly?

I have asked this question not to try to evade paying Child Support but to maintain my professional integrity.

BACKGROUND ON CASE

I currently live in one of the MidWest states and the custodial parent (i.e. mother) lives in Maryland with our son.  Based on Court orders, I am supposed to make Child Support payments through the Maryland Dept of Social Services which I do.  I actually make these payments voluntarily (when I am between jobs) or through my employer when I am employed.  However, whenever I do change jobs, the custodial parent (i.e. mother) incessantly calls and subpoenas my employer for salary and personal info.  This has got quite embarrassing and out of hand recently because she actually called the Vice President of the company to ask / discuss my employment situation.  I have petitioned the Court to stop this crazy behaviour but I have been unsuccessful.

So as I asked earlier, if I change jobs and not inform the Maryland Child Support Dept or the custodial parent of my new employer, can the Maryland Dept of Child Support find out where I am working?  If they can, how will they do it?

Thank you.

[Kitty C.]

I think what's more important is that you employer file harrassment charges against your ex.  If your order is through the state of Maryland and you pay them directly, then any questions or concerns about payments should come from them only.

Question:  when you change jobs, how does your ex find out where you work?  Do you tell her?  Because personally, I wouldn't be giving out that kind of info to her....it's only fodder for her fire.  The only entity who needs to know where you're working is the state of Maryland, since they are the ones receive the payments on behalf of your ex.  So is she calling when your between jobs or when you've changed jobs.....and maybe your new employer hasn't processed the paperwork fast enough to have your wages garnished and sent to Maryland?    I'm betting on the latter........DH's ex would rip into DH when she didn't get 'her' money quickly enough (and garnishing was HER idea!), but it wasn't until CSRU explained to her that they are the ones in control of disbursing payments that she finally backed off.

You mentioned you've petitioned the court regarding her behavior......in which jurisdiction?  Because if you and your employer are in the Midwest and she's on the east coast, the actual harrassment is taking place in your jurisdiction, not hers.  You might try talking to your human resources dept. about what you and they can do about this.  But if she's harrassing them, it should be up to them to either put up with it or put a stop to it.  Maybe an 'friendly suggestion' that if she continues the unnecessary phone calls, they may be forced to file an action against her, but if she will cease and desist, they will drop the issue.  Thing is, if she doesn't take it seriously, your employer better be prepared to put their money where their mouth is, because people like her will not stop until you put a wall up in front of them.

[cautiousfather]

Originally I paid ex child support directly but that was before we had an order.  I know I took a chance on it being considered a gift but the fact that I indicated on the check it was child support and the date saved me.

So when the order came through for me to pay the state directly for the child support, I walked in the local office and visited with them about it.  How reviews are done, how often, etc.  They were helpful.  So 2 months later after I started a new job I get notice that I'm being garnished.  I was current and always had been so I was a little peeved thinking ex had gone to cse and requested garnishment.  I found out later that wasn't the case.  In my state, if an employer has 20 or more employees they have to report all new hires to the state.  I guess so they can cross-check to see if there is an active child support case. 

I would either go into my local office and/or call the main office at the state capital.  Anytime I've called they've been friendly and helpful.  I'd also ask for guidance on how to handle your ex's actions and let them know it isn't just you being harassed but your employer.  They may have suggestions or possibly intercede on you're behalf.  If you can't file a complaint with them I'd find out if my employer could.

I know here though that the state made it clear to me that if you're being garnished and you change jobs and your garnishment doesn't cover your obligation for the full month's support order---you need to be checking on it and send the difference in directly before it's due.  Say you switch jobs at the beginning of the month so former employer isn't going to garnish enough to cover and new garnishment order isn't in place--they let me know it was up to me to be sure that my obligation for the month was met.  Once I didn't think it was going to meet it and I sent in the difference.  A garnishment came in but not enough to cover what would have been owed and I now carry a small credit forward every month.

[ajs]

Nobody answered his straight forward question.
Question is - If you move to a different state and work for a different company, and you are not behind in your child support, Can your ex find out where you are working now (with the help of an attorney or different ways)? I am sure Maryland CS enforcement will not be interested because you are not behind.

[lucky]

Most states (if not all) states have laws in place for the employers that the employer MUST send in relevant information regarding new hires to the department of labor - most notably SSN, name and address.

So, yeah, in most cases, the state can find out with minimal effort if the employer is abiding by the laws.

However, I do NOT believe that the CSE office can disseminate employment information to the CP without the NCP's permission.  Could be wrong about that though.

[jumbo]

I know this is old but , there are websites on line where, for a nominal fee, a search can be performed for the current and past employment of anywone.  Mom could have used that method, or hired a PI