Child Support Agency not following guidelines

[bigql83]

I'm in South Carolina

Two years ago I had a significant change in my parenting plan that basically gave me custody of my son. It breaks down into 284 overnights for me and 81 overnights for the Mom. The problem is that the court order also says that we have joint custody with the mother being the primary. I filed with DSS about my child support order and they refused to close the case because the order doesn't specifically say that I have primary custody.

So I request a modification knowing that the mother would have to pay me if they recalculated child support. Months go by I never received a response.

A year goes by and I go into their office again to find out what happened. This time they agree to close the case after reviewing the court order. Months go by again then I receive an email stating they can't dismiss the case since we have joint custody on "paper". This time 7 months go by before I finally have my hearing.

At the modification hearing they tried to get me to accept a reduced child support amount based on the fact that we had joint custody. I asked to see how they were calculating the child support. They showed me they were using their shared custody formula. I showed them that they can't use the shared custody calculation because in their guidelines they can only use that formula when both parents have atleast 109 overnights which the mother doesn't have. We didn't come to an agreement and we proceeded to have a hearing with an actual judge.

Due to covid this was a virtual hearing, I pleaded my case again, and so did DSS while also admitting to the judge that I was right and that their guidelines couldn't be applied to my case. The judge agreed withe that I should have no child support obligation and closed my case. She only backdated my order to the actual negotiation conference date which was 2 months ago.

How could DSS get away with not knowing how their actual guidelines work. This oversight from them has cost me overpaid child support over 10k that my son will never see. Is there any action that I could take against them I feel like someone should be held accountable?

 

[stealth2]

Have your custody orders been modified to reflect the actual parenting time split?

 

[bigql83]

Have your custody orders been modified to reflect the actual parenting time split?

Yes it was modified 2 years ago but the first line remains the same that state we have joint custody with the mother as the primary. But it also lists the amount of time I have with my son as Sunday through Friday, mother gets 2 weekends a month, half of summer/holidays. A total of 81 days. The problem was that DSS used the reasoning that because the order states that she is the primary that I should pay support. When the fact their guidelines have no such rules and are based strictly on actual physical overnights.

 

[stealth2]

Yes it was modified 2 years ago but the first line remains the same that state we have joint custody with the mother as the primary.

Why wasn't that changed?

 

[adjusterjack]

Two years ago I had a significant change in my parenting plan that basically gave me custody of my son. It breaks down into 284 overnights for me and 81 overnights for the Mom. The problem is that the court order also says that we have joint custody with the mother being the primary. I filed with DSS about my child support order and they refused to close the case because the order doesn't specifically say that I have primary custody.

So I request a modification

With whom? DSS? You should have gone back to court then for the clarification.

How could DSS get away with not knowing how their actual guidelines work.

Because it's a bureaucracy. In a bureaucracy, everybody is incompetent and nobody's accountable.

Is there any action that I could take against them

No.

 

[bigql83]

Why wasn't that changed?

We made an agreement right before going to trial for custody. It was done hastily before she changed her mind. In the grand scheme of things that clarication didn't matter because the important thing at the time was for my son to remain with me so that he could continue attending school.

 

[bigql83]

With whom? DSS? You should have gone back to court then for the clarification.

Yes with DSS, my court order was through family court and child support was through DSS. I never went back to family court to get my order changed because legally DSS shouldn't have been able to make me based on their guidelines

 

[doucar]

Yes, bit the only entity who could say your interpretation is right or wrong is the court.

 

[LdiJ]

Yes with DSS, my court order was through family court and child support was through DSS. I never went back to family court to get my order changed because legally DSS shouldn't have been able to make me based on their guidelines

Bottom line: You and DSS disagreed about the issue. It had to be taken in front of a judge to resolve the issue. That is the legal process. Unfortunately the legal process takes time when everything is working properly. It is really no one's fault that COVID-19 messed up life for everybody.

Getting the new order backdated to the beginning would have been nice, but realistically, the odds of you actually getting the money back are slim to none. It is the child's mother who would have to pay you back, not the state.

 

[bigql83]

Bottom line: You and DSS disagreed about the issue. It had to be taken in front of a judge to resolve the issue. That is the legal process. Unfortunately the legal process takes time when everything is working properly. It is really no one's fault that COVID-19 messed up life for everybody.

Getting the new order backdated to the beginning would have been nice, but realistically, the odds of you actually getting the money back are slim to none. It is the child's mother who would have to pay you back, not the state.
[/QUOTE

Is it a disagreement when DSS didn't do their part to follow their own guidelines when calculating child support. Their own guidelines state clearly that child support for shared custody can only be used when both parents have atleast 109 overnights. They calculated it with the mother having only 81 nights. The DSS caseworkers and their attorney were ignorant of their own guidelines. Otherwise they wouldn't have filed the incorrect estimates with the court. That's negligence on DSS.

What's worse was during the hearing after DSS's attorney finally looked up their guidelines he agreed with me. Then he submitted a new estimate giving the mother 109 nights just so that he could justify me having to pay support right after admitting to the judge that she only has 81 nights and the law says that he can't calculate support.

I know I'll never see that money again, the mother doesn't work never has, but I still feel like someone in DSS should be held accountable. I can't imagine thow many people they are screwing over because they don't know how their own system works.

 

[Ohiogal]

Is it a disagreement when DSS didn't do their part to follow their own guidelines when calculating child support. Their own guidelines state clearly that child support for shared custody can only be used when both parents have atleast 109 overnights. They calculated it with the mother having only 81 nights. The DSS caseworkers and their attorney were ignorant of their own guidelines. Otherwise they wouldn't have filed the incorrect estimates with the court. That's negligence on DSS.

What's worse was during the hearing after DSS's attorney finally looked up their guidelines he agreed with me. Then he submitted a new estimate giving the mother 109 nights just so that he could justify me having to pay support right after admitting to the judge that she only has 81 nights and the law says that he can't calculate support.

I know I'll never see that money again, the mother doesn't work never has, but I still feel like someone in DSS should be held accountable. I can't imagine thow many people they are screwing over because they don't know how their own system works.

The one responsible for this was YOU. You knew the order said mom was primary and you didn't get that changed. You are responsible for this.

 

[LdiJ]

Is it a disagreement when DSS didn't do their part to follow their own guidelines when calculating child support. Their own guidelines state clearly that child support for shared custody can only be used when both parents have atleast 109 overnights. They calculated it with the mother having only 81 nights. The DSS caseworkers and their attorney were ignorant of their own guidelines. Otherwise they wouldn't have filed the incorrect estimates with the court. That's negligence on DSS.

What's worse was during the hearing after DSS's attorney finally looked up their guidelines he agreed with me. Then he submitted a new estimate giving the mother 109 nights just so that he could justify me having to pay support right after admitting to the judge that she only has 81 nights and the law says that he can't calculate support.

I know I'll never see that money again, the mother doesn't work never has, but I still feel like someone in DSS should be held accountable. I can't imagine thow many people they are screwing over because they don't know how their own system works.

I understand your frustration, but it was also your own error, in not getting the proper language in your custody order, that contributed to the problem. This was by all means, NOT entirely the fault of DSS.

 

[stealth2]

Is it a disagreement when DSS didn't do their part to follow their own guidelines when calculating child support.

Is it a disagreement when an interested party (i.e. YOU) didn't have their order properly modified?

 

[bigql83]

The one responsible for this was YOU. You knew the order said mom was primary and you didn't get that changed. You are responsible for this.

Explain to me what that has to do with child support. South Carolina child support guidelines are based strictly on physical overnights. If the order stated that I was the primary but only had 80 nights I would still have to pay.

 

[bigql83]

Is it a disagreement when an interested party (i.e. YOU) didn't have their order properly modified?

Child support order and the family court order are two separate issues. My order was modified properly, it shows that the mother doesn't have the child enough for them to be able to calculate support. DSS didn't follow their own rules, the judge made them. So who's at fault?