The end of the month has me thinking about child support
I can’t believe I did it. National Blog Posting Month is done as of midnight tonight, and I did indeed fulfill my commitment to post every day. The end of the month makes me think of the beginning of the month, which in turn makes me think of payments.
In my case, it’s another month of no payment from the ex for his son, I’m betting. He’s so far behind, I don’t see how he’ll ever catch up. This will make Christmas a little tight, but I’ve been saving and scrimping and buying cool National Geographic toys on sale when I see them for a deal. The Kid won’t notice. I do hope I can get him a Leap Frog Leap Pad so he can learn how to write his letters properly. The machinations he goes through to get an ‘e’ on paper are hilarious to watch, but rather, erm… laborious.
If you are successful in collecting your child’s support money or your alimony, perhaps you can share with the group: how on earth do you get it?
Tags: child support, collecting-child-support, deadbeat-dadRelated Stories
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5 opinions for The end of the month has me thinking about child support
Jenny
Dec 1, 2007 at 2:40 am
I guess I’ve been lucky. Right when my divorce was finalized, I registered my case to be monitored by the state. So, the times my ex has failed to pay on time for any reason, they know about it. When he doesn’t pay, they keep a record, assess interest on the backlog, and begin investigations to locate him. As soon as he gets paid somewhere, they garnish and direct deposit the amount to me. There was a time at one point when he was so far behind in support, he could barely live on what remained of his paycheck when he did manage to resume working. So, he understands it’s in his interest to stay employed and pay on schedule. Indeed, he’s remarried now to a (really nice) woman with 2 girls, so if he screws up again there’s a lot more at stake. Sometimes I really, seriously wonder if she understood what she was getting into.
Anyway…
My mother was a single mom and her ex (my bio-dad) never paid anything until I was 16. The only reason he finally paid something was because he was sued. Too little, too late in my book. So, I consider myself very fortunate that my ex feels his responsibility acutely and does his level best to fulfill it. I still think he’s a complete moron, but at least he’s an honest one.
Gayla McCord
Dec 1, 2007 at 9:43 am
I went to the prosecutors office in the county where my divorce took place. I paid $25 and they stay on top of the case. It took them a while to get to it, but now that they have and after staying on them - I receive child support every three months.
This is the BEST way possible, here in the states at least.
Request a “body attachment” which means he will have to pay a certain amount by a set court date or be escorted to jail.
They are serious about the jail part, my ex stayed in jail all of February 2006 because of it.
I do receive large sums quarterly, but that makes it easy for me to do things like eye exams, buy seasonal clothes, etc.
At the time we went to court, my ex was well over $20,000 behind.
If you need more information, please do email me. I’d be glad to give you the info I have
christina
Dec 1, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Jenny, thanks for this, it’s all going to be very interesting seeing as he’s overseas and has no intentions of moving back here. Sigh.
christina
Dec 1, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Wow, Gayla! I’ll have to look into that as the divorce gets rolling. I doubt they can do anything while he’s living overseas, but oh it could be nasty for him to come to the US if he doesn’t pay. He’s so far behind, I don’t know how he’ll catch up… and he doesn’t pay an arm and a leg, so you KNOW he’s far, far behind.
Gayla McCord
Dec 1, 2007 at 4:37 pm
The thing about the body attachment is, it will prevent him from ever claiming a tax refund, a lottery winning or anything that’s linked to the government. If he starts to draw retirement when he is older, here in the states, you will still receive child support, even if the kid is 30. Because the debt does not go away.
AND it gets tagged on his credit report as a federal debt too.
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