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non payment for childcare

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michmad321

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? IL

I own a home daycare and I have never had a problem with a parent not paying before, until now. In my contract it states that payment is due on Mondays or the first day of the week that the child is in care. I had a child and his mom got paid on Fridays, so I told her that she could pay me on Friday as long as it was consistant....and she was.Then she got a new job and it would have been way out of her way to bring him back and forth, so she had to find a new daycare. The last day he was at my house was on a Thursday and she did not bring him on Friday, so I just figured I would get the payment on Monday...well that weekend she e-mailed me and said that she found a new daycare that day and that he would not be coming back, but she knows that she still owes me money and she also needs to get his stuff. She told me she would come by the next day with the check...the next day came and nothing...I called her numerous times and left messages and she never called me back. So finally I decided to just keep e-mailing her so I have a paper trail, so I sent her a e-mail that states that since she has not made any effort to pay me and starting then the 10.00/per day late fee is in effect. It was actually a myspace message...so I checked the status, she read it and deleted me as her friend...and has not tried to contact me or anything. His last day of care was August 14th...so it has not been very long and so far she owes me $50.00 in late fees. How long should I wait before I file a lawsuit and what do I say about the late fees, since it changes daily? Can I include the filing fee in the lawsuit? I have a signed contract from her agreeing to the late fees. How often should I e-mail her asking for payment? Would a judge really grant me all the late fees I am owed if she signed the contract and she was notified that it was in effect? I have never had to sue anyone before so I am kind of lost. :confused:
Thanks in advance to anyone who responds!
 


Hot Topic

Senior Member
File tomorrow if you like in small claims court for everything you can prove that she owes you in terms of care and late fees. You can also include the cost of the filing fee. You can't claim anything like emotional distress.
 

michmad321

Junior Member
Wouldn't I have to put a amount down though? How would I put that when she will keep owing me $10.00/per day or do I have to just put the amount that she will owe me when I file and just cut my losses, if thats the case then what is the point of having a signed contract? Thanks for your help :)
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
Wouldn't I have to put a amount down though? How would I put that when she will keep owing me $10.00/per day or do I have to just put the amount that she will owe me when I file and just cut my losses, if thats the case then what is the point of having a signed contract? Thanks for your help :)
You can sue her for the actual amount that she owed you when she stopped coming.

I doubt seriously that any judge will give you $10 per day interest.

That is thousands of percent per year.
 

michmad321

Junior Member
Well a $10.00/ per day late charge is very small compared to other home daycares around here. The point of having a fee is to persuade people to pay on time...I have a signed contract and she agreed to pay it. I am not including Mon-Thurs in the fees, because we did have a verbal agreement that she would pay on Fridays instead of Mondays. I am not planning on waiting a year to file the claim, but I am trying to give her a chance to pay before I jump the gun, maybe I am just too nice :eek:
 

Genae77

Junior Member
Daycare parent non-payment and false accusation

What to do when a family has already left your daycare but has not yet paid? I have sent invoices to collect the remaining balance from this family but instead we recieve a letter wanting copies of the enrollment forms, daycare agreement, etc... We have responded to the letter and asked for the payment. But still the family sent another letter with accusation or shall I say issues from the past that were communicated and resolved. The family's claims have been twisted. The family feels that the daycare owes them but are willing to resolve all of this if the daycare makes the balance zero.

It has been stressing us out to the fact that we provided high quality care and went out of our way to work with this family and now all this accusations a month later after the fact we are trying to collect or set up a payment plan with this family. All our parents are truly happy with our service and always praise our daycare. But it's just this one family who has a history of not keeping up with payment.

Can anyone adivse us what to do?
 

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