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Friday, July 8, 2011

A Broken Child Support System

I would like to preface this blog, and all related blogs to follow, by saying that I am not a child support collection expert. I am not an attorney, financial advisor or CPA. I am just a mother that desperately wants what is best for her children, including protecting their financial interests. I would also like to mention that the current support owed to me by my first husband is a staggering $70,000. Bear in mind that this is support only and does not include 50% of other owed expenses such as medical insurance, day care expenses, and school tuition. If we crunched those numbers, we would be closer to $100,000. The current order that is in place for this case, not that it seriously matters because the ex could care less, is a mere $70 per week. This means that if I started get support today…literally, today…that he would be all paid up sans any interest in 1,000 weeks. For those of you without a calculator handy, this is about 20 years. Yes, I will be collecting child support at the same time I am collecting Medicare. Even as I reflect on this, my stomach twists and turns in a maddening cocktail of rage, astonishment and pure helplessness.

While I live in Illinois, I also have experience with the child support system in both Ohio and Florida. However, it seems that Illinois is light-years behind many other states when it comes to child support enforcement and my case is no exception. I wonder at times if I am too lax in my approach or too patient in waiting for what is owed me. The fact of the matter is that it takes time, energy and money to pursue delinquent child support and I am short on all of those things. As a freelance writer, if I am not at home working on a project for a client then I do not get paid. I do not have the luxury of abandoning my work in pursuit of money that I know in my gut I may never receive.

In the last 6 months I have traveled four times more than 120 miles round-trip to the Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, Illinois. This is nearly 500 miles and with gas nearing $4 per gallon I have spent $100 in order to get a zero net return. Obviously, this does not even include the money I could be making if I were at home for those hours actually making money. Yes, I would end up making more money if I simply stopped pursuing child support. How sickening is that?

My current husband, who is pragmatic almost to a fault, believes that I should simply wash my hands of the matter and if money floats our way, so be it. And if it does not, I will have saved myself money, endless tears and nonstop aggravation. He knows that this outstanding balance will never evaporate and that it will eventually catch up with the ex. He knows that in a thousand different ways our lives are more magnificent than the ex could even hope to imagine for himself. Of course, he is right. But let’s not tell him that….yet.

Because my case is being handled by the Illinois States Attorney’s office I am at their mercy regarding whether they actually act on my case. I cannot reach anyone by phone, by fax or by mail. For those who have never lived within the child support system, you probably imagine that as soon as a check is missing you can pick up the phone and say, “Well, he is late again. Please do something”. It simply does not work like that. In the 16 years that I have been dealing with this matter, I have stood before a judge a total of three times. The first time was six months ago when the ex asked for a reduction in support (granted). A reduction? Are you freaking kidding me? The second time was a month ago when the judge wanted (after I pleaded a bit previously) an update on the exes employment status. In that case, he never even showed up and so the case was continued until yesterday. Yes, read that again…he never even showed up to court. Surely something happens in that case, right? I mean, contempt or a fine or something? Nothing. I stood in front of the judge feeling as though my head was going to explode. It did not and I drove home with tears streaming down my cheeks.

There is so much to this case that I will continue nearly daily updates on this until either I get a bit of money or I finally take my husband’s advice to walk away from this frustrating journey. Stay tuned as tomorrow I will outline for you just what my ex is missing out on, when it comes to my amazing son and why my son has made his own choice to walk away from his biological father.

10 comments:

Sue said...

Do not give up, it's the principal of the matter at this point.

Sue said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
George R. McCasland said...

Sorry, but the delay may be my fault. I have been teaching fathers for years that they get free help from child support enforcement to modify the orders when they get laid off, and in this Mancession, a lot of men have been. They are 4X more likely to be laid off then women.

As a result, a severe backlog has been created in all cases regarding child support. Iowa wants to set up a Saturday court to expedite hearings to modify the orders.

Sue said...

Really, what was the reason before the recession? This issue is not new he obviously has been diligent for some time.
This is not just a mancession, many Mother's have been hit also, but they still have to provide for their children. It is just another broken system fueled by excuses for irresponsibility. Why have a system that doesn't help the one's it is suppose to protect, the children.

SusieAD said...

I would agree with what the other Sue has said. This is not a short term recession related problem, this is a responsibility problem. Further, is there any other debt that is owed (say, an auto loan) wherein you can go to the person you owe the money to and say "Gee, times are tough, I would like to pay 35% of what I owe. Not use the car? Give it back? Oh no, I still want all of those rights...I just don't want to pay what I owe".

Anonymous said...

The entire system is broken because it was never set up correctly in the first place.
I believe a pool system would be far,far better. One very bad thing is that each state sets up it's own system.
A pool would not necessarily end this but could bring fast relief to both sides.
Your personal story is also flip side of many who are homeless because they can't afford to have a place to stay.
The system as it is does not care if you are laid off,captured by terrorists,or other legitimate reasons the tax collection still goes on. What is needed is using they systems to be more individually responsive and to use modern day economic and social realities.

kimi said...

The whole system is flawed, so we need to learn to work within that broken system. I call once a week to say that we havent had a payment. Then we got a hearing with a child support enforcement officer who read her the riot act and told her to pay up. She cried and said she would be homeless in two weeks and could not get a job because she has a bad back. The officer told her to pay anyway, but 28,000 later we are still waiting for a payment! They took away her license to drive, her passport and reported it to a credit bureau. Big deal. That doesnt put food on the table or pay for camp. So we just keep calling every friday. I could file a motion but what is the point of going before the judge when she refuses to get a job or follow the court orders. There should be a warrant for her arrest by now.

Unknown said...

So based on your assertion of your ex being in arrears for 70,000 dollars, and "only" being obligated to pay a mere 70 dollars a week, that would mean that you were divorced at the birth of your child(ren) and they (if there is more than one) were all born at the same time, and you were collecting support for them until the age of 19 years, 3 months. How does that work out, because yes I did have a calculator handy and crunched the numbers.

I agree that your ex should be held responsible for his child(ren), and that he should be held accountable for the associated costs of raising child(ren). However, much more creedence will be paid to your cause if you were to present factual information, or justify the deviation from standard math.

SusieAD said...

Doc: I was divorced in 1995 and my son was emancipated due to age as of 2011 (although I am still supporting him, as he is attending college next month). The current $70/week order is applied towards arrearage only and is not a current support order. The support orders have varied through the years from a low of $65/week to a high of $110/week, with an overall 16 year average of $90/week.

If he had paid 100% of this amount it would have been... $90 x 52 (weeks) x 16 (years) = $74,880

This amount is, of course, sans interest.

Sue said...

In response to Doc Jones, I find it interesting that what you choose to take from this post is that since we can not do basic math, how can we be taken seriously. I am glad the
math issue was cleared up for you but the real issue obviously evaded you, our state and our court system.