Child Support Laws need an overhaul.

Hello All, Recently I was asked to give character testimony in an DSS adoption case involving my ex-wife. All it did was bring really bad memories back to the front of my mind. To be specific, the amount of child support arrears my ex owes me. As of today, $57,398.02

Now understand my kids are now 26 & 28 soon to be 27 & 29. That $57 & change is arrears payments, you know the payments she did'nt make when she was supposed to. In my state the local Child Spport Enforcment will work with you & keep you in the system for a period of 10 years after your children age out at the age of emancipation, in NC that's 18 in some states it's 21. In my case it's a NY State Court Order, so my kids age out ages were 21. That means my local Child Support Enforcment will keep my ex in their system till my youngest is 31.

That means they will still garnish the wages, red-flag the tax returns, and send you any monies they get for your case. But what after that?
After the Child Support folks pull out and leave you to fend for yourself? In my state you have little options. You can consolidate it for a judgment and go the route of liening property, and vehicles and even business's. But it's all on YOU to do this. It's on YOU the one who is owed the money. YOU have to get a lawyer, YOU have to file the documents, YOU have to see to it all this is done, and the sad reality is YOU probally don't have the money to pursue it. So that owed by court order & judgment money sort of just turns to dust in the wind .

This has got to change. There has to be a way for this to be done better. I was inspired by a poster in my thread about the DSS case on an idea. What if we could sell that debt owed to us to a debt collector or bank or any lending institution? Or perhaps auction it off? Not saying dollar for dollar. Say 20 to 25 cents on the dollar? At least you can re-claim something. The big debt collectors could profit, they have legions of lawyers to file liens and the like, and the payee could then face real jail time and real punishment for being a damn deadbeat.

If you are owed support arrears and could do this to collect on some of this debt, would you? This is what I want to know, if folks would go this route. Would you sell your child support arrears to the highest bidder if you could? Thanks for the input and I and the wife are crafting a letter to our local Congressman about this very subject. In the days's ahead I will post that letter here in a companion thread. Thanks in advance & have a great week. OYM1262

Actually, there are debt collection agency's for child support. We have them advertising all the time on the t.v. here.
Nationwide agency


I would use them, if I had need of them.
But the idiot and I, were able to get along just enough to get out of the friend of the court and do it our selves, until the very end. He screwed me out of a few hundred, but at that point, I didn't need it, and was just happy to be done with him.

reply to post by chiefsmom


These agency's are for active case's. Not aged out case's. These companies you speak of are worse than the folks who don't pay. These companies profit off of your misery. I'm talking about when the kids are aged out and there's monies left being owed. Selling that debt.If we actually enforced the child support laws we have we would have no need for these" for profit companies".

Sorry, thought they would take it, as long as it was still, "open".

To be honest, seems like a big gamble for someone to "purchase" that debt. If the state can't even get the money. Although I know counting on the state to work hard at anything, is a gamble in itself.

reply to post by chiefsmom


State's can only do so much. They can't attach liens, they can only do as per the federal guidlines. They can take business license & your vehicle drivers license. They can jail you for only a specific length of time. When the debt collectors purchase the debt, it shows as just that "debt" not attached to child support. Then the crime is in the form of default of a loan, where as it can cause real world problems for the debt holder. Vs a slap on the wrist from Child Support Enforcment. To many people don't support they children and it's becoming epidemic. To many run & hide and wait out the time till the kids age out, most don't realise the debt is still there...it never goes away.

If you are a parent that is not getting the court ordered support for yoir kids...educate yourself and don't ever let them off the hook. Ever.Go after that money tooth & nail. After all it is your money. Yea, you can't get blood from a turnip, but you can take a dead beats house and vehicle, Use the system, stay in the system, and go after what is yours.

reply to post by openyourmind1262


I'm 35 and my mom left my dad when we were 5. I have a twin sister and a younger brother. He was an abusive alcoholic so she left because of it. He never paid a dime of child support, not a dime. Laws were different then than they are now. I could go after him for it even at my age but you know what? I moved on and I honestly don't care. I could use the money for many things esp school but why bring someone into my life that was never there before just to get money? I really don't want to go through the whole process with something that happened so long ago. My mom did the best she could with what she had. I didn't lack for anything but it wasn't an easy childhood. I did grow up poor but I always had food and a roof over my head.

I just don't see the point going through all this mess to get some money. It won't change my childhood.

Good luck.

I have WAY to much to say about this ..

to even begin to start .. suffice it to say.. it's one sided here in OREGON ...even in the face of truth about the facts !

reply to post by openyourmind1262


%57K? OUCH. I gave my ex-husband a free pass for years in child support because I was doing financially better than him. It was when circumstances changed about 6 years ago that he and I agreed that it was time he started paying child support. He currently owes me almost $19k for one child. If it weren't for that free pass, it'd likely be double that ($38k). When he and I were married, his child support payments to his ex-wife was about $500 a month out of a $2k gross paycheck, leaving a little over $1k after taxes a month. In some ways, I see the measurements as being rather brutal. If he hadn't been married to me and in my particular family, he would've been poverty stricken for a good chunk of his life. Despite the fact that our marriage was awful and he did a lot to destroy it, including abuse, I almost pity him on the child support count. It's one of the reasons why I did give him a free pass for 6 years. Just because he and I were a very bad mix doesn't make him any less human. On the other hand, the measure is fairly accurate in how much of his income would've been contributed to our child's rearing. It's brutal for the obligor who has to pay the support but it would be brutal for the obligee should it be lowered.

In my specific case, he seemingly has refined a technique to dodge child support. He spends a significant part of the year paying under $200 monthly and then nothing out of the original $500ish order, bouncing from employer to employer. The monthly payment he is supposed to be making, including arrears, is over $600. That means that most months, he's accruing $400-600 in debt. Pretty sure he's already lost his driver's license (though he claims that he enjoys transit and is being environmentally responsible). I've done everything that I could to encourage him to a. pay regularly and b. at least notify me when he is going to be out a job again, including kicking back money to him--neither of which he has done. It was his behavior and attitudes that led me to divorce him. No great surprise that he's a deadbeat dad. Hell, he's only seen our child twice in the last 12 years. All around deadbeat indeed.

I've also only managed to talk to my case manager once. The state's child support division needs way more workers. The only other fix I can suggest is reducing the lag time between when employers need to start garnishing his check. When he's between temp jobs, it takes a month for child support to note that he is working elsewhere and then another month for the employer to fulfill the garnishment order. A two month llag time is ridiculous and my ex has admitted that he maximizes it by sticking with contract and temp work.

Wow, am I the only guy that pays HIS SUPPORT AND ON TIME???

HomerinNC
Wow, am I the only guy that pays HIS SUPPORT AND ON TIME???

You might very well be and let me say, I appreciate your existence for it.

openyourmind1262
reply to post by chiefsmom

 

State's can only do so much. They can't attach liens,

My state does. I just saw one today where my old house (that I sold years ago) had a lien for child support against it. The document was in the official county recordings. The document I saw was actually a partial release of the lien as it had been satisfied. The couple who bought my house got a divorce several years ago and this was the result.

Of course, I believe in your case your ex has few assets, and I understand the difference, but if you DO have assets in my state, child support will definitely go after you.

reply to post by HomerinNC


Nope, my husband and I both pay ours on time. You are not alone.

My ex-husband, though? Not a chance. He actually asked if Child Services manages to garnish him at this job - one he likes and wants to keep - would I give him the ATM card so he can pay his rent. Pay his rent... Hmmm... Maybe his season passes to two different ski resorts could pay his rent?

Getting bitter in my old age.