Each month, I get a statement showing that I need to make my monthly payment to child support for my son. I’ve paid it, with no problems… but now I’ve got one. Three, actually:
My son’s eighteen now. That’s the age at which I no longer have to send money to my ex for his maintenance… well, unless he’s still in high school. However…
My son’s not in high school anymore. He’s graduated, and will be attending college in a few weeks.
My son lives with ME now! He moved here four months ago.
Why do I keep getting the monthly bill?
I’ve tried to call the caseworker in charge of my account… for a full week now. She’s never in her office. I’ve left messages, one of which she’s returned- but I missed her call. They won’t let me talk to anyone else.
I can’t just drop by the offices to discuss my case- I’m now living half the country away.
I’m thinking of sending them a letter, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it gets misplaced.
I called six months before my son turned 18, to find out what I’d have to do to discontinue the child support. “Just stop paying” was their response… and yet I keep getting the bill every month. I’m not paying it, per their instructions… but given the overzealousness of the agency, I’m very nervous about doing so. I can easily foresee them calling me into court to explain why I haven’t been paying, or just starting up automatic garnishing of my paycheck. It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission, after all- and I’d have to contract a lawyer to resolve everything.
Yeah, I’m fuckin’ annoyed. For an agency which has so much legal power over non-custodial parents, you’d think they’d be a bit more… responsive.
Make a copy of the documentation saying you don’t have to pay it and send it in along with a copy of the bill, and a note saying you’re not paying. Maybe actual physical evidence in their inbox will wake them up.
I am not your lawyer. You are not my client. Hell, I’m not even a lawyer, as I am recently reminded.
Be that as it may, I believe that CSS doesn’t make changes to support decrees without the order of a judge. While it may seem like common sense, expecting CSS to automatically change the status of your case when your son turns 18, graduates or moves in with you is probably unreasonable. I think you need to have a lawyer revisit your support decree in court to get changes like that made.
I just went through this with my daughter. Once she graduated from HS (she turned 18 just before her senior year) I kept getting child support checks. They were automatically deducted from the ex’s paycheck.
He had to go down there and talk to them and show them the agreement that indicated he should no longer be paying.
You shouldn’t need a new decree from the judge because you already have one. Make a copy and send it with a certified letter.
My husband and I are also dealing with this. My husband has been to the office in Abiline to reduce the child support (her offer, since she did move 900 miles away). First time they lost the paperwork. Second time they lost the paperwork but still managed to bump it to another state so Alabama was garnishing his wages instead of Texas. Whenever my husband tried to contact his case worker it usually took 17 phone calls to get a live person. When he did ask what he could do to move things along the case worker shouted (and no, that’s not an exaggeration, she shouted) “Just pay the child support or we’ll have you put in jail!”
So now we have over twice the amount agreed to by him and his ex-wife being automatically deducted from his paycheck, the ex saying she rarely actually gets a check from TX (now AL), two 900 mile trips wasted, wage garnishment AND a statement every month that if he doesn’t send a check he’ll go to jail.
I know the answer here is to get a lawyer, but damn, after this who can afford it? I only wish someone would go after my ex-husband with the same tenacity. He doesn’t pay child support. I am getting it from both ends.
Sorry - this touched a nerve.
And now, Bob Barker’s friendly reminder to have your teenager spayed or nuetered to avoid these situations!
I wouldn’t be suprised at all if the OP’s emancipation proceedings took four months. Hell, a year isn’t entirely out of the question. He’s just lucky he doesn’t currently have a wage withholding in place.
Wage withholding in Texas is screwed up. A co-worker had an agreement with his ex and he paid what he owed every time, on time, for about ten years. And then she had his check garnished and the state took weeks to deliver each check. She was furious, he was furious, the state just kept doing its thing.
Obviously nothing. And you don’t seem to realize that you know nothing. But you keep acting as if you know something.
Lightnin’. Please don’t go to the trouble to get a lawyer, as was suggested by our resident NON-lawyer.
I’ll echo the suggestions of the other posters to this thread. I’ve had to do this myself within the last two years, when my son turned 18. I live in Ohio. And these kinds of things are up to the whim of the very LOCAL agency. And they are, in my experience, staffed by possibly the most incompetent civil service workers in the world. The guy who handled my case was a total fuckup. I had to personally go in three times, ask to speak to the supervisor, who was fairly competent, and then document my complaints, and keep on their asses for six months. I finally got the bastard fired. Made my day.
Since they are not withholding any money from your pay automatically, you have quite an advantage over many others. Do send a letter with documentation, but send it certified. Cheaper than registered. But they still have to sign for it.
Find out the name of the ass-hole’s supervisor somehow. Keep calling. My experience would indicate that you need to get to the superior who is usually more competent, and for whom I feel great sympathy. I think they supervise morons.
Yeah. They started talking about making me management after I’d been there less than a year - over workers who had been punching the clock for going on twenty. Normally, you’d think that would be a good sign; but given the way that place was run, I took it as my cue to start looking toward greener pastures.
First off, I do not have expertise here, and am offering an opinion. But it would be what samclem said, with three added caveats:
Read the court papers carefully, watching for details. You need to pay until he’s 18, unless he’s still in high school, or if you have custody. You know he’s living with you, 18, and graduated. But an agency halfway across the country and charged by court order with making those collections doesn’t – until they’re properly informed. You may need to have the court vacate the order, as its terms have been fulfilled. Or it may be self-terminating. It depends on the wording of the decree; read it carefully.
Send the letter certified, signature of addressee or agent required, return receipt requested. This gives you proof you provided them with all necessary documentation, and they received it.
Send a copy of the correspondence to the court that issued the support decree.
Even the best CSS agencies (and there are some good ones mixed in with the dross) are as obliged to carry out a court order as you are. If the order specifies the conditions when it can be lifted, but doesn’t state that it applies until that date and no longer, they’re as obliged to abide by its terms as you are. If it’s “collect money until the court sees proof that you can stop” then they’re honorbound to keep on dunning you for money. The good CSS agencies will be in there more than willing to get the order lifted, but obliged to follow its terms until they are. (The bad ones, of course, are the worst combination of officious bureaucrat and incompetent idiot. But take the positive view first. and see if you can elicit cooperation.)
Current Washington state employee and wife of former Washington child support enforcement officer checking in.
Texas is one of the worst states to deal with for CS. California is the worst, because each county has it’s own stupid rules. Texas is bad cuz they will put you in jail.
First, you are now in Oregon? Go into that office and ask them for assistance. Enforcement moves with the Dad and you can request that your case be moved to where you live. It probably wasn’t transferred to Oregon already because you were paying–when CS has a paying customer, they tend to try to keep them. Ask for your case to be transferred to Oregon and that might end up getting it closed when they realilze the hassle that will be.
As Polycarp indicated, if your order is not cut and dried that CS ends when the kid turns 18 or graduates, you’ll need to formally petition for your case to be closed. Having him living with you means jackshit unless your order specifically says that the months he’s living with you are not months you pay support. If the order says you pay $X until whenever, you pay no matter where the kid is. You need formal modifications to end support in many cases.
Many states have all the forms you need to do your family court business available online. You may be able to petition for closing your case that way.
Any correspondence between you and the agency needs to be sent certified mail, return receipt requested. Also, ask to speak to their customer satisfaction department if they have one. Complaining to HQ gets people in trouble, so go as far over your caseworker’s head as you can.
If your spouse and you are on good terms, as her to contact her district legislator. State employees do not like to have letters to legislators, so send the legislator a letter and cc the caseworker. Also, you can contact your legislator in Oregon and ask them for help. Or the Governor’s office–oh, man, state employees hate when people contact the Gov.