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This is such a messy story, I’ll try my best to keep it simple because in the end I have a serious question. I want to know if anyone has had to deal with this in this state/metro area?
My bitter ex-wife received custody of my children at the beginning of this year. Before that my current wife and I had custody of my children for about 5yrs without a penny of child support coming from my Ex in that time. I have been making payments to her by check/Money orders and sending them in the mail.
So when I mail June’s payment the envelope is later returned to me. Being that I mailed it from work and it had my companies address without my name on it, it actually took about 2 1/2 weeks to reach my office (huge company). Once I received it, I mailed it again with my actual home address on it. Once again it was returned 5 days later saying it could not be “delivered as addressed”-return to sender. So long story short…..it is my belief that she intentionally stopped her mail from being delivered to cause me to be behind in support payments. Again there is a whole lot more, but for the purposes of this post….I am summarizing. I contacted her lawyer and she just stated that my Ex still lives at the address and just send the payment again (at this point almost 4 weeks later). Which I did and it was eventually cashed. So about 2 weeks after that I get a letter from my employer stating Child support services has submitted paper work to garnish my wages.
Our custody agreement states that I am to make payments to her directly, which again I had been doing. She originally wanted child support taken out of my check, but my attorney and I didn’t agree to it. I go to the Child Support office the following Monday to inquire about what’s going on and sure enough my ex is claiming she didn’t receive June’s child support payment. I took all my evidence with me (including copies of the 2 returned envelopes) and all payments made including June’s payment cashed late because of the circumstance. At first they acted like they didn’t want to do anything about it and stated they don’t get involved in civil matters. They then stated that anyone at anytime (regardless to the fact that my ex had lied to them) could ask them to collect child support payments on their behalf regardless of if the court order said so or not; regardless if you were late or not. After much debate over this I finally got the lady to release the garnishment of my paychecks, however I must still pay support thru the agency. My question is how in the hell is this legal? It’s almost seems like a complete racket, because along with support payments you have to pay agency fees. I’ll admit it is only $1.50 each payment, but it’s the principle of the matter at this point. How can they force me to pay them anything when I clearly have shown myself to be in good standing and again abiding by what the court order states?
Part of me feels like I have a small victory in having the garnishment released and it’s only $1.50 a month I’m paying extra (would have been more with garnishments). So I should just let it go and move on. It’s not really worth (financially) getting a lawyer involved. But at the same time it outrages me that Child support services lets people gain the system and turns a blind eye to it. Plus they do nothing but benefit in these situations as they are collecting fees from people without cause. I understand in the circumstances they are dealing with a dead beat. I am not a deadbeat! Again I’ve showed them proof of all payments-that is why she released the deduction order in the first place. To make matters worse when I look online thru the states website- it still shows I owe the back child support. Has anyone had to deal with this in the state of Georgia? I’m so frustrated with this!
I'm no attorney, but I would suggest sending your payments to her attorney instead of to her (if that won't hurt your case). That way, there's no shenanigans regarding whether she received it or not. One other alternative would be to send it by certified mail/return receipt requested. She has to sign for it and you get the receipt with her signature.
I know this is unfair to you as you are not a deadbeat but I am an attorney and I would advise a client in your circumstances to simply use the agency. Yes, it hurts your pride but you can get over that. The more crucial thing is that if you use the agency, you never have to worry about some agency or the courts thinking you did not make your payment and garnishing your wages or hauling you into court because you appear to be in violation of the court order ordering the child support. See, the intermediary is a good thing. You have proof that you've made your payment each month and won't have to deal with anymore drama (at least as far as payments goes). She can never say that you did not pay.... You pay the agency and then you don't have to think about it anymore. You don't have to wait and see if the monthly check is returned, etc. I'm not sure about sending it to the attorney because the attorney would likely charge her a fee for that service (attorneys don't often do clients favors for free, especially on an ongoing monthly basis) and I'm not sure your ex-wife would be willing to pay. Why would she? If she is trying to get you in trouble, she has no incentive to pay an attorney who could provide proof against what she is trying to do (get you in trouble). Just pay the agency and be done with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kayoticworld
This is such a messy story, I’ll try my best to keep it simple because in the end I have a serious question. I want to know if anyone has had to deal with this in this state/metro area?
My bitter ex-wife received custody of my children at the beginning of this year. Before that my current wife and I had custody of my children for about 5yrs without a penny of child support coming from my Ex in that time. I have been making payments to her by check/Money orders and sending them in the mail.
So when I mail June’s payment the envelope is later returned to me. Being that I mailed it from work and it had my companies address without my name on it, it actually took about 2 1/2 weeks to reach my office (huge company). Once I received it, I mailed it again with my actual home address on it. Once again it was returned 5 days later saying it could not be “delivered as addressed”-return to sender. So long story short…..it is my belief that she intentionally stopped her mail from being delivered to cause me to be behind in support payments. Again there is a whole lot more, but for the purposes of this post….I am summarizing. I contacted her lawyer and she just stated that my Ex still lives at the address and just send the payment again (at this point almost 4 weeks later). Which I did and it was eventually cashed. So about 2 weeks after that I get a letter from my employer stating Child support services has submitted paper work to garnish my wages.
Our custody agreement states that I am to make payments to her directly, which again I had been doing. She originally wanted child support taken out of my check, but my attorney and I didn’t agree to it. I go to the Child Support office the following Monday to inquire about what’s going on and sure enough my ex is claiming she didn’t receive June’s child support payment. I took all my evidence with me (including copies of the 2 returned envelopes) and all payments made including June’s payment cashed late because of the circumstance. At first they acted like they didn’t want to do anything about it and stated they don’t get involved in civil matters. They then stated that anyone at anytime (regardless to the fact that my ex had lied to them) could ask them to collect child support payments on their behalf regardless of if the court order said so or not; regardless if you were late or not. After much debate over this I finally got the lady to release the garnishment of my paychecks, however I must still pay support thru the agency. My question is how in the hell is this legal? It’s almost seems like a complete racket, because along with support payments you have to pay agency fees. I’ll admit it is only $1.50 each payment, but it’s the principle of the matter at this point. How can they force me to pay them anything when I clearly have shown myself to be in good standing and again abiding by what the court order states?
Part of me feels like I have a small victory in having the garnishment released and it’s only $1.50 a month I’m paying extra (would have been more with garnishments). So I should just let it go and move on. It’s not really worth (financially) getting a lawyer involved. But at the same time it outrages me that Child support services lets people gain the system and turns a blind eye to it. Plus they do nothing but benefit in these situations as they are collecting fees from people without cause. I understand in the circumstances they are dealing with a dead beat. I am not a deadbeat! Again I’ve showed them proof of all payments-that is why she released the deduction order in the first place. To make matters worse when I look online thru the states website- it still shows I owe the back child support. Has anyone had to deal with this in the state of Georgia? I’m so frustrated with this!
I'm no expert and I've never had to deal with this, but a buck fifty doesn't seem too bad for the peace of mind of not having to depend on your ex-wife's good graces. Plus, you can rest assured that you're providing for your children in a timely manner regardless of what games your ex is trying to pay.
I'm no attorney, but I would suggest sending your payments to her attorney instead of to her (if that won't hurt your case). That way, there's no shenanigans regarding whether she received it or not. One other alternative would be to send it by certified mail/return receipt requested. She has to sign for it and you get the receipt with her signature.
Thanks for the reply. We are way past that at this point. The Child Support Agency is stating from now on I have to make payments thru them. My thinking before this matter was that she always had to sign to cash the checks, so there was no need for certified mail. I can always go online and print a copy of a cashed check. Then again I never thought someone would purposely not accept payments (especially being money hungry) to cause me to be late by default. You can’t fight a suicide bomber, their rules of engagement are on a whole different level if you yourself are not a suicide bomber.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LovelySummer
I know this is unfair to you as you are not a deadbeat but I am an attorney and I would advise a client in your circumstances to simply use the agency. Yes, it hurts your pride but you can get over that. The more crucial thing is that if you use the agency, you never have to worry about some agency or the courts thinking you did not make your payment and garnishing your wages or hauling you into court because you appear to be in violation of the court order ordering the child support. See, the intermediary is a good thing. You have proof that you've made your payment each month and won't have to deal with anymore drama (at least as far as payments goes). She can never say that you did not pay.... You pay the agency and then you don't have to think about it anymore. You don't have to wait and see if the monthly check is returned, etc. I'm not sure about sending it to the attorney because the attorney would likely charge her a fee for that service (attorneys don't often do clients favors for free, especially on an ongoing monthly basis) and I'm not sure your ex-wife would be willing to pay. Why would she? If she is trying to get you in trouble, she has no incentive to pay an attorney who could provide proof against what she is trying to do (get you in trouble). Just pay the agency and be done with it.
Thanks for the info, and I mostly think that I have just have to accept this. You're right it is certainly a pride thing with me. I do see the benefits of having the agency collect the payments, but I never thought they could just shove it down my throat. I think what make matter worse is no one seems to care. Kind of "it is what it is” attitude about it. But I definitely see the logic in what you are saying.
I'm no expert and I've never had to deal with this, but a buck fifty doesn't seem too bad for the peace of mind of not having to depend on your ex-wife's good graces. Plus, you can rest assured that you're providing for your children in a timely manner regardless of what games your ex is trying to pay.
Yeah I think you might be right. I think it’s just the principle and nonchalant attitude of the whole thing that has pissed me off. Plus she keeps using the courts/Child support services to cause heart ache and obstacles in my life. The courts keep throwing it out, but nothing is ever done to her....therefore empowering her to cause some more mess (thus this issue). I feel like I am truly being “legally” harassed. Another thing that has me nervous about all this is they (child support svcs) use you SS number for everything. That scares me to no end, especially with a government agency involved.
This is such a messy story, I’ll try my best to keep it simple because in the end I have a serious question. I want to know if anyone has had to deal with this in this state/metro area?
My bitter ex-wife received custody of my children at the beginning of this year. Before that my current wife and I had custody of my children for about 5yrs without a penny of child support coming from my Ex in that time. I have been making payments to her by check/Money orders and sending them in the mail.
So when I mail June’s payment the envelope is later returned to me. Being that I mailed it from work and it had my companies address without my name on it, it actually took about 2 1/2 weeks to reach my office (huge company). Once I received it, I mailed it again with my actual home address on it. Once again it was returned 5 days later saying it could not be “delivered as addressed”-return to sender. So long story short…..it is my belief that she intentionally stopped her mail from being delivered to cause me to be behind in support payments. Again there is a whole lot more, but for the purposes of this post….I am summarizing. I contacted her lawyer and she just stated that my Ex still lives at the address and just send the payment again (at this point almost 4 weeks later). Which I did and it was eventually cashed. So about 2 weeks after that I get a letter from my employer stating Child support services has submitted paper work to garnish my wages.
Our custody agreement states that I am to make payments to her directly, which again I had been doing. She originally wanted child support taken out of my check, but my attorney and I didn’t agree to it. I go to the Child Support office the following Monday to inquire about what’s going on and sure enough my ex is claiming she didn’t receive June’s child support payment. I took all my evidence with me (including copies of the 2 returned envelopes) and all payments made including June’s payment cashed late because of the circumstance. At first they acted like they didn’t want to do anything about it and stated they don’t get involved in civil matters. They then stated that anyone at anytime (regardless to the fact that my ex had lied to them) could ask them to collect child support payments on their behalf regardless of if the court order said so or not; regardless if you were late or not. After much debate over this I finally got the lady to release the garnishment of my paychecks, however I must still pay support thru the agency. My question is how in the hell is this legal? It’s almost seems like a complete racket, because along with support payments you have to pay agency fees. I’ll admit it is only $1.50 each payment, but it’s the principle of the matter at this point. How can they force me to pay them anything when I clearly have shown myself to be in good standing and again abiding by what the court order states?
Part of me feels like I have a small victory in having the garnishment released and it’s only $1.50 a month I’m paying extra (would have been more with garnishments). So I should just let it go and move on. It’s not really worth (financially) getting a lawyer involved. But at the same time it outrages me that Child support services lets people gain the system and turns a blind eye to it. Plus they do nothing but benefit in these situations as they are collecting fees from people without cause. I understand in the circumstances they are dealing with a dead beat. I am not a deadbeat! Again I’ve showed them proof of all payments-that is why she released the deduction order in the first place. To make matters worse when I look online thru the states website- it still shows I owe the back child support. Has anyone had to deal with this in the state of Georgia? I’m so frustrated with this!
Take her back to court, take your evidence that the payment/envelopes were mailed twice and sent back twice and ask them to make a court order that you have to pay your child support through the court system and the court system will then send it on to her.
If you do this the courts will have the documentation to prove that you have sent them the child support payment on time each month.
Why is it that you have not taken her to court to collect the back child support she should owe you and why are your children placed with her now?
You will more than likely not get this settled without your attorney and a court order.
Take her back to court, take your evidence that the payment/envelopes were mailed twice and sent back twice and ask them to make a court order that you have to pay your child support through the court system and the court system will then send it on to her.
If you do this the courts will have the documentation to prove that you have sent them the child support payment on time each month.
Why is it that you have not taken her to court to collect the back child support she should owe you and why are your children placed with her now?
You will more than likely not get this settled without your attorney and a court order.
Like I started off with it's a looooooooong story. I took custody of my kids from her 5yrs ago because I wanted them to be in a better environment and not grow up with the negative influence of my Ex. My wife and I took them and we were not concerned about support payments from my Ex-as the whole point was to get them in a better environment, better schools, etc.. The court order was drawn up (because she voluntarily gave up custody) in my lawyer office at the time in a way in which she owed me no child support. Like I said, we didn’t care at the time-it was all about the kids.
She has always been jealous of my wife and the second I bought a new car she started scheming. On one of my kids visits to their mom-she started saying that they would be moving back with her. She started promising them things if they did...... Anyway my son wanted to go, because he felt I was too hard on him as a father, and when you have a mother promising you a new car and the moon if you do....well. My daughter on the other hand didn't want to go and I told her no one would make her go if she didn't want to. Well this went completely against my ex-wife scheme. So about 3 weeks later (March of last year) I was served with a TPO by the sheriff’s office at 4am in the morning for supposed abuse of my son. The courts forced the kids out of my house, without an ounce of proof. No one investigated, asked questions, checked with the school, doctors, etc. So I had to answer to this BS a month later.
Long story short the judge realized it was BS, but because of my sons age granted her custody of him because that is what he wanted. My daughter was sent to live with me and my wife. Over time my ex kept up mess with my daughter (telling her she doesn’t have to listen to the rules in my house) and a bunch of immature BS. My daughter starting buying into all this mess and had become very disrespectful to my wife. We went about a year dealing with this until---------well like I said long story. The point is I decided I rather pay the child support then to keep living the way we were. My daughter got manipulated into thinking she rather live with her mom, and under the circumstances I agreed.
I have been dealing with the courts, and I am sick of it! I’ve had to defend myself on frivolous charges and pay thousands of dollars for it. In the end it got me nowhere….she got what she wanted all along. So now I’m stuck with do I take this back to court (and spend more money) or just suck the $1.50 up. Thinking I’ll go with the $1.50 because I don’t have a lot of faith in the court system.
Do you have an attorney? I hate to say it but you might have to legally retaliate a little for her to back off. For example, I really do not see how you could agree, by private agreement, that she does not have to do what the court order said (child support that she never paid). Child support is decided for the benefit of the child and the parents cannot undo it, even if they want to. All this said, I would threaten to haul her back into court for back child support if she EVER bothers you about anything again. If she bothers you, I would make good on my promise. Some people never learn until they feel a little bit of burn themselves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kayoticworld
Like I started off with it's a looooooooong story. I took custody of my kids from her 5yrs ago because I wanted them to be in a better environment and not grow up with the negative influence of my Ex. My wife and I took them and we were not concerned about support payments from my Ex-as the whole point was to get them in a better environment, better schools, etc.. The court order was drawn up (because she voluntarily gave up custody) in my lawyer office at the time in a way in which she owed me no child support. Like I said, we didn’t care at the time-it was all about the kids.
She has always been jealous of my wife and the second I bought a new car she started scheming. On one of my kids visits to their mom-she started saying that they would be moving back with her. She started promising them things if they did...... Anyway my son wanted to go, because he felt I was too hard on him as a father, and when you have a mother promising you a new car and the moon if you do....well. My daughter on the other hand didn't want to go and I told her no one would make her go if she didn't want to. Well this went completely against my ex-wife scheme. So about 3 weeks later (March of last year) I was served with a TPO by the sheriff’s office at 4am in the morning for supposed abuse of my son. The courts forced the kids out of my house, without an ounce of proof. No one investigated, asked questions, checked with the school, doctors, etc. So I had to answer to this BS a month later.
Long story short the judge realized it was BS, but because of my sons age granted her custody of him because that is what he wanted. My daughter was sent to live with me and my wife. Over time my ex kept up mess with my daughter (telling her she doesn’t have to listen to the rules in my house) and a bunch of immature BS. My daughter starting buying into all this mess and had become very disrespectful to my wife. We went about a year dealing with this until---------well like I said long story. The point is I decided I rather pay the child support then to keep living the way we were. My daughter got manipulated into thinking she rather live with her mom, and under the circumstances I agreed.
I have been dealing with the courts, and I am sick of it! I’ve had to defend myself on frivolous charges and pay thousands of dollars for it. In the end it got me nowhere….she got what she wanted all along. So now I’m stuck with do I take this back to court (and spend more money) or just suck the $1.50 up. Thinking I’ll go with the $1.50 because I don’t have a lot of faith in the court system.
Do you have an attorney? I hate to say it but you might have to legally retaliate a little for her to back off. For example, I really do not see how you could agree, by private agreement, that she does not have to do what the court order said (child support that she never paid). Child support is decided for the benefit of the child and the parents cannot undo it, even if they want to. All this said, I would threaten to haul her back into court for back child support if she EVER bothers you about anything again. If she bothers you, I would make good on my promise. Some people never learn until they feel a little bit of burn themselves.
What it was is that she claimed she made so little, that they gave her credits in the child support worksheet for a lot of things. I know she was lying about the amount of money she made-but once again I didn't care. I think at the time she claimed she only made like $600 a month or something like that. She also has another child that fitted into the equation. So the worksheet showed she owed me $117 dollars a month, but it was offset by other credits....well at least that what my attorney told me. To be honest I don't think my attorney really took this case all that seriously. I mean she did her job in getting the TPO mess thrown out, but when trying to explain all the other things...just didn't seem to care that much. I had paid her one flat fee for dealing with all this and I think she was getting annoyed with the whole case as it drug on. Even when I brought up this Child Support Services stuff to the receptionist (gatekeeper) I was immediately told it was going to cost me more money.
Last edited by kayoticworld; 08-13-2014 at 11:04 AM..
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. My daughter on the other hand didn't want to go and I told her no one would make her go if she didn't want to. Well this went completely against my ex-wife scheme. So about 3 weeks later (March of last year) I was served with a TPO by the sheriff’s office at 4am in the morning for supposed abuse of my son. The courts forced the kids out of my house, without an ounce of proof. No one investigated, asked questions, checked with the school, doctors, etc. So I had to answer to this BS a month later.
