Welfare Fraud by non-custodial parent

California

My dh and his ex have shared 50/50 custody of their son for the past 6 yrs. This last July, my dh was awarded primary custody, due to instability of the biological mother. He has 76% custody and she has 24% custody. Granted, since the hearing, she has yet to see their son for more than 6 1/2 hours total, by her own choosing...not taking advantage of her custodial time.

Our problem...

We had suspicion that she was applying for Welfare about 2 months ago, and including my stepson on the application. We were told by our atty, that if she did collect welfare on their son, that the state would come after my husband to be compensated. He told us that even though my husband has primary custody, that the state would still come after him. At that time, we were told to call Welfare and that my husband would be able to verify if she was indeed, either collecting or attempting to collect welfare for their son. When my husband called, the Welfare department told him that they could not release any information to him whatsoever, even though he had primary custody.

Well, now we found out from her 3rd ex-husband, that she has been colleting welfare for herself, & my stepson, since about 2 weeks after her marriage to the 3rd ex-husband (they were married May 25, 2001, separated in August). He said that he did not know anything about it, until one day, he found a letter from the Welfare dept in the mail. He said that when he talked to her about it, he found out that...she had listed that she was separated from him (they were not), that her last name was still her 2nd marriage last name, and that she was collecting it on both of her sons (even though she, since July 25th does not have primary custody of my stepson) , as well as herself. (She has a 2nd son from marriage #2).

We want to make sure that we are not held responsible for paying the government anything back on the son, since we have had him basically full-time in our house for the past 2 yrs. He spent 6 weeks with his mom, this last summer.

What can we do about it???

I know this is dealing with Welfare Fraud, but since it is dealing with my husband son...I figured I would come to this forum! Any advice would be appreciated!!

The only thing you can do is report to the welfare office that your child does not live with her and provide verification with school records etc. if they need it. She has another child with her therefore she would be eligible for assistance even without your child. There should be a 1-800 number to call in fraud if you really think she is claiming your child. But be sure you can back up your claim. She may even be eligible with her new spouse if he is not the father of her child and the income is low enough. You can also report fraud without giving your name if you would be more comfortable not saying who you are. They will not tell you anything but they will check the information out to see if what you say is true.