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Filing for back child support

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BugHogan

Guest
Minnesota

My fiance would like to pursue back child support for his son. His son is 18 now, there was a case opened originally, because he was receiving medical assistance from the state for his son. The child support agency never made her pay, he filled out stack after stack of paperwork for them, only to have them tell him, "Oh, we can't pursue her for support because she's on public assistance". Another time they told him that the case would not be pursued because "she wouldn't cooperate".

His son's mother receives public assistance for his other two children that she has custody of. He pays child support faithfully and on time every month for them and has for the past 11 years. He also visits with the girls on a regular basis and had joint custody of them.

His point is that his son is entitled to the same support that his daughters have. Although he realizes his ex-wife is on public assistance, she is capable of working and is still obligated to support her child no matter what. She has been on public assistance for 11 years. He also feels if she has to pay support, she will have to get a job, thus making it better for his daughters as well. If she has a job and is getting his child support, she would be making ALOT more than just getting public assistance alone. I'm sure they wouldn't give her a very high child support obligation for his son, but it would really help, considering he wants to go to college and his Dad has really struggled to support him without help all these years.

Our questions are:

1. Is it true that Minnesota cannot pursue someone who is on public assistance for child support or are they just giving us the runaround? We thought that they could impute minimum wages at the very least to get him the support he deserves.

2. Can he pursue this without going through the agency and instead going directly through the courts? Can he file the paperwork on his own and how is that done? He doesn't have money for a lawyer, nor do I, can this be done without one?

3. Is it correct that he has a 2-year time limit to pursue this after his son turned 18?

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. I apologize for the length of this post.
 


Ambr

Senior Member
we have a support agency in missouri that usually handles all of this for us.

BUT....when my ex first got behind in his support, I was told that he had to be 3 months or better before the support unit would go after him. i found out through my attorney that i could go to the courthouse myself and file the paperwork required. he has to be delinquent 1 full payment. so when it came time for the 2nd payment to come - and it didn't - i went to the courthouse.

tell the clerk that you want to file the paperwork to garnish the paycheck of the NCP. you will need to have a copy of the court order that shows the amount that is to be paid. you also need to know the address of the NCP and the place of employment.

they can garnish the check (in missouri anyways) up to 49% of the income or one full payment and half of another until it is paid. the garnishment will stay in place after that. you won't have to do anything else, unless the NCP quits that job and goes to another one. then you have to start all over again.
 
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BugHogan

Guest
The only problem is, a set amount has never actually been established, because the agency refused to take the case to court. There was a caseworker and everything, but no court date set or anything. They claim that it is "against their policy" to obtain child support from someone who is on public assistance because their income is 0. It's not the law though, just their policy. That seems crazy, because what they are basically saying is if you are unemployed, you have no obligation to support your children which is absolutely false. A judge can definitely impute minimum wage for someone who is not working and charge them accordingly. My fiance has always made sure he paid his support and he has really struggled to get by, with the child support and trying to support his son on his own. I help as much as possible now that we're together, of course, but I'm not the richest person in the world either. His problem is that he has been waiting and fighting for 11 years to get support for his son. It doesn't appear that she will get off of public assistance until the children are 18 at this point.

Anyways, he has written to a Minnesota lawyer who has an online ask-a-question forum, in the hopes of finding out exactly what his rights are in this state. This is the same county that my friend is going through for her child support case, where she doesn't get a dime from her ex-husband, even though he is quite well off and owns his own business. She ended up having to sell her small, modest home and move into an even smaller apartment and sell her car just to make ends meet. They don't do anything to collect, they seem to stick it to the people who try to do right by their children and let the real deadbeats get off scot free. This is also the same county that only applied 92 cents of my fiance's child support payment last month when he paid the entire amount! It looks like some sort of clerical error, but this seems to be the rule rather than the exception with this incompetent agency.

Anyhow, once the kids are grown, we're out of Minnesota! I know my fiance is fed up with this state and I wouldn't mind moving somewhere warmer:)
 

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