# Collecting a legal debt **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810 "2009-04-30T03:14:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/21 "2009-05-01T00:10:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why OX? Oh [shit – it’s my] ex! –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/22 "2009-05-01T00:19:23Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > I assume O is for Order, the full title being Order for Examination [Site Has Moved](http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/ej125.pdf) Yes, local attorneys and the court informally use OX as the shorthand for the whole OX process. “Do an OX.” “How was the OX?” I have a standard form OX questionnaire if you want it. You can also use it to draft interrogatories to send to the debtor. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/23 "2009-05-01T00:54:41Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > 1. > 2. Multiple SSNs A crime in and of itself. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/24 "2009-05-01T03:09:57Z")
I haven’t done thins but you might get him in an OX and ask for his ATM cards. If he produces them, then hit his bank with a levy that way. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/25 "2009-05-01T03:30:06Z")
Would public shaming work to change the attitude of the people in the child support agency who are dragging their feet? What if the mother was able to get a TV reporter interested in her story and the reporter mentioned on air how the public servants weren’t interested in collecting thousands of dollars in child support. Any publicity she’d be able to shine on the situation might serve to kick start the process. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/26 "2009-05-01T13:17:56Z")
I worked collections as a lawyer for a brief while - HATED it. As you are finding out, obtaining a judgment and collecting on it are entirely different matters. Many folks might be astounded at the lengths many folk go to to make themselves judgment proof. And collections vary HUGELY state-to-state, and I know nothing about CA law. There are collections firms who will go after the deadbeat for a portion of what they manage to collect. As someone said, part of what you are owed is better than nothing. In IL, support payments are given priority over just about everything else, and there is a considerable institutional framework to assist spouses/children. That definitely would be the first place I’d look. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/27 "2009-05-01T13:46:08Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > Would public shaming work to change the attitude of the people in the child support agency who are dragging their feet? What if the mother was able to get a TV reporter interested in her story and the reporter mentioned on air how the public servants weren’t interested in collecting thousands of dollars in child support. Any publicity she’d be able to shine on the situation might serve to kick start the process. I would first take it up with the agency’s ombudsman. > [@](#): > > Q: I have tried speaking to someone about my child support case. I am not getting my questions answered. What do I do? > > A: The Department of Child Support Services continuously strives to ensure that individuals receive the highest level of service through the program’s 52 local child support agencies. > > If you are not satisfied with the customer service you received from the local child support agency, you may wish to speak to the local child support agency Ombudsperson. > > The Ombudsperson helps you resolve issues with the child support case, explains rights and responsibilities, and helps you get child support services. Click here: PUB 253: How to Resolve Problems with Your Child Support Case. _From:_ [FAQs](http://www.childsup.ca.gov/Home/FAQs/tabid/59/Default.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/28 "2009-05-01T15:33:20Z")
Would it be worth hiring a private investigator to follow the guy for a week, or even do it yourself? Find out where he’s working, what banks he’s using, etc. It seems like in this situation the more you know about the guy, the better. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/29 "2009-05-01T15:47:30Z")
What does it take before they put a guy in jail for non-payment? I know it happens, but I don’t think it happens often. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/30 "2009-05-01T15:48:24Z")
I’ve never done this, so I don’t know if it works, but a little trick I heard was to send him a check for $30 or some low amount from a friend’s account under the pretext of repaying a fake debt along with a note saying, “Here’s the money I owe you, thanks!” He will be baffled and he won’t recognize the drawer of the check, but he might deposit it or cash it though his own account. Use a temporary check without the drawer’s contact info on it so he can’t call anyone to investigate it. It costs you a little money to do this, but if he negotiates the check through his own account, you can get his bank information off the back of the check. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/31 "2009-05-01T16:22:52Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > What does it take before they put a guy in jail for non-payment? I know it happens, but I don’t think it happens often. The Illinois version of the California “OX” is the Citation to Discover Assets. A judgment debtor who is served with a citation and fails to show will have a [body attachment](http://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/rules/rules15.htm#1505) issued (basically a bench warrant). The body attachment will set an amount for bail (to which Illinois’s 10% bail bond provisions do not apply). The debtor will be arrested and the cash bail will be applied to the judgment. Also explained in [this article](http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2009/04/13/r_pkargmctq_oexjhzazlfkq/index.xml). ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/32 "2009-05-01T16:57:53Z")
Getting a bench warrant issued is the new getting a judgment. Either one can be a pyrrhic victory. I recently got a bench warrant issued against a debtor who failed to show up at an examination. I got the warrant issued during a hearing on another motion I’d filed in the case, and the judge was only too happy to issue the warrant. I dutifully sent a copy to the sheriff. When I called the sheriff to make sure I had the correct details, I asked, “So when will you pick him up?” A. Huh? Q. It’s a warrant. Shouldn’t you arrest him? A. We don’t house on civil warrants because we don’t have the space. Q. Umm . . . ok, so you’re not going to go pick him up then, I take it. What if he gets stopped for a traffic violation, won’t the warrant come up on the computer? A. Sure, but we don’t house on civil warrants. Q. So he won’t be held, even if another agency has him in custody? A. Correct. Q. Is there any way I can get this guy arrested? Can I get a court officer to pick him up? A. Um. . . . nope, only the sheriff has that authority. Q. But you won’t do it. A. Correct. He now has a bench warrant that was issued, coincidentally, for failure to show up at a contempt hearing for failure to pay child support. I’m watching to see if \*that \*gets him picked up. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/33 "2009-05-01T18:24:41Z")
Bureaucracy at its best there. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/34 "2009-05-01T19:05:11Z")
Child support is different from most owed debts because it’s actually enforced. I’ve even had sucess getting social security to cooperate with me to help a friend get her husband to pay support. You have to check state laws, these often make it criminal to avoid payment. They can do things, depending on the state, like suspend driver’s licenses or even jail time. Of course if they are in jail you can’t get any pay from them, but you can make their lives miserable. There are people who have thrown their non-child support paying spouses in jail then attached their prison wage of like a quarter a day. That way their time in jail is really unpleasent. If you have their social security number, they’re screwed, you just attach their wages and they can’t work or take credit out as long as you have it, you can mess with their report. Check with the state the judgement is issued. If they aren’t being helpful, it may be wise to move to another state, such as Illinois, with which has very strict enforcement, and you can get the judgement there. In Illinois once you get that judgement they will take the money right out of the person’s pay, no option to do otherwise, and it looks bad to the employer and it follows them. I would try myself to collect first by boneing up on laws, 'cause most of the lawyers collect and charge you a fee (A percentage of what they collect) for doing what you could do youself with some work. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/35 "2009-05-01T20:26:09Z")
Is credit card debt as serious as child support debt? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/36 "2009-05-01T20:28:09Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Is credit card debt as serious as child support debt? No. Non-payment of support can be a crime. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/37 "2009-05-02T18:58:36Z")
To answer some questions: Take him to court on an OX? He has lied for years and never got called on it. He even faked a court order, got an attorney to signed it, then produced it in court to drag Mrs Cad into court on 78 counts of Contempt (one for each day she did not abide by this faked order that she never even knew about). When he finally admitted it was a fake, the judge threw out the case. No consequences for him and we were out $20,000 in attorney fees. Arrest for non-payment in Los Angeles County? Maybe 2 or 3 in the last decade. I’ll refer her to the state and I’ve long since tried to get her to report him to the IRS. Hell, I may do it myself and get the 10% finders fee (if they still do that) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/38 "2009-05-02T19:10:01Z")
Doesn’t he want to see the kids? How much of an involved father is he? ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/39 "2009-05-02T19:15:44Z")
> [@SaintCad](#): > > To answer some questions: > Take him to court on an OX? He has lied for years and never got called on it. He even faked a court order, got an attorney to signed it, then produced it in court to drag Mrs Cad into court on 78 counts of Contempt (one for each day she did not abide by this faked order that she never even knew about). When he finally admitted it was a fake, the judge threw out the case. No consequences for him and we were out $20,000 in attorney fees. Holy mackerel. What happened to the attorney who signed it? ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810/40 "2009-05-02T22:00:28Z")
Color me skeptical - a faked court order like that shouldn’t take 20K to defend, and that’s disbarment-level contempt of court and could be fraud or perjury. There’s gotta be more to this story, or maybe the facts were a bit different. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collecting-a-legal-debt/494810.md?page=3)