Can't find father

[colonnelli]

What is the name of your state? TN

Hello all, I am trying to obtain some legal insight and advice on my fiance's CS case. This case is very complex to say the least. My fiance had her child 12 years ago in FL. She was unmarried, however their is no dispute over the father and he is on the birth certificate. Now we have been together for 6 years and last year we moved from NY to TN. Now she has had a CS case open since basically the begining. She has recieved payments very sporatically and as of almost 2 years now, nothing at all. The father is in arrears for $34,000! Now the TN and FL CS are saying they have not been able to locate the father. However he is still married and is either hiding out with his wife or his parents. They refuse to question his wife or his family, which I don't understand. At this point would there not be a warrant for the father's arrest? If so isnt the family/wife helping a fugative? I myself have never been in trouble so I don't know much about these things. Also my fiance is concerned that if they ever do find him, he will demand visitation with his daughter and my fiance does not want that. Basically the guy is not a nice guy<as if need to be said>, and he does in fact have a previous record and was in jail. He has not seen his daughter since she was around 2, and basically he doesn't want to...he would be doing it just for spite and to influence my fiance to get his way. Am I wrong in saying there is almost no chance of him seeing her? Thanks in advance =)What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? TN

 

[seniorjudge]

Go talk to the feds; it sounds like he is violating the federal nonsupport law.

 

[colonnelli]

Go talk to the feds; it sounds like he is violating the federal nonsupport law.
Today 11:37 AM
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Seniorjudge, if you have the time can you go into detail what exactly would be done? Will this cost us anything to get going? Will this end up with the father in jail and no arrears?
My fiance has been talking to Supportkids.com and we have been thinking of trying them. As I said I really had no idea how many fathers/mothers are able to go for so long without paying their CS. I am shocked that our country doesn't do more to help the CP's more. Basically were we are at with the local CS office, unless he does something on his own like getting a job, arrested or opening any type of credit or filling taxes they will never find him. They will not actively look for him. We can't afford a private investigator, however I bet they would find him in no time. Its been 2 years and lots of missed court appearances and no father. Thanks again for any help. =)

 

[nextwife]

Has she checked the SS Death Index to verify if he is still alive?

 

[colonnelli]

Has she checked the SS Death Index to verify if he is still alive?
__________________________________________________________________________

Honestly, I am not sure if she has his SS#. Isn't this something the CS officer would have checked? I will ask her to check but I highly doubt anything has happened. He is still married, I know that because the CS office has his wifes and familys info.

 

[colonnelli]

Is this not an extreamly high ammount of arrears? I can't imagine he will ever pay it off. My fiance's daughter is almost a teen and probably be a senior citizen before he makes his last payment, if he survives that long. Senior mentioned contacting the Feds, does anyone have any idea if that would cost anything or exactly how effective it would be? What exactly are CS case workers for, or the CS office in general? I am really confused what court the ball is in at this point? Does anyone know anything about Supportkids.com? How effective they are?
Also what rights does my fiance have since obviously the father is trying everything he can to shrug is responsiabilites, everything he owns is in his wife's name or other family member?

 

[txrose1998]

Granted, I am not in the same state as you.....but with my experience with the OAG, they do basically nothing. That is not necessarily to say that they do not care, but they are just too swamped. I have an ex that currently is 17k in arrears and has never paid a dime. They have yet to have found a job or anything on him....in FIVE years. I would really advise against support kids and those other companies. They charge a fortune and they turn the arrears into a debt, that therfore, can be written off in bankruptcy. They are pretty unethical companies based on the reports out of the BBB.
Good luck

 

[Zigner]

If you go with a private firm to collect CS, then they will need to be paid a certain percentage of ANY child support you are owed. Even if a year from now, the dad comes in to a huge inheritance and decides to pay what he owes (with no "encouragement" from the outside firm), that firm will be entitled to their percentage.

Also, it may allow the past due amount to be discharged in a BK proceeding

 

[Zigner]

Go talk to the feds; it sounds like he is violating the federal nonsupport law.

From http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/child-support/criminal.html:

If you have a difficult Interstate case with a large arrearage you may want to seek federal prosecution of the law forying parent. Violation of federal lawfor first offenders is time served in a federal penitentiary of six months. Second offense or more is up to 2 years in a federal jail. The non-paying parent must make restitution in the amount of past due support.

For your case to qualify:

1. The non-paying parent must live in a different state than the child.
2. It has been determined either under a court order or administrative order that the non-paying parent has a past due support obligation of at least one year or $5000. punishable at six months in jail. $10,000 or 2 year non-support is punishable at up to 2 years in jail.
3. The non-paying parent has willfully failed to pay. Willfulness for these purposes is defined the same as the federal criminal tax law as the knowing and intentional violation of a known legal duty. The government must prove that the non-paying parent had the money and the ability to pay the obligation but chose not to pay.
4. Partial payments do not mean that these charges cannot be filed. However, partial payments may show that the non-paying parent did not have the ability to pay the entire child support obligation. An investigation should be done to determine if partial payments are being made because of the inability to pay or because the non-paying parent chose not to make full payments.
5. Prosecution under this law should take place in the Federal District Court where the children live. Benefits include; the child support agency's records of payments and arrearage are in the children's district; there would not be any transportation costs for the custodial parent and children to serve as witnesses, and if the family isare alsoing welfare, the welfare records arealso in the district where the children live.
6. Cases should be referred from the child support agency to the U.S. Attorney's office after all reasonable efforts to enforce the case have been tried and have failed.

 

[colonnelli]

Well that kinda sucks. I just found out my fiance is already working with Supportkids. She had no idea they turned arrears into debt, thus now the father can claim Bankruptcy and not be responsiable for the $34,000? That is if they find him, since the state of Florida hasnt been able to in 2 years, that is if they even tried to locate him. That really blows. There is just so much wrong with that its not even funny, my fiance saw no other options since the CS office has been able to do ZERO in 11 years. I think the father has paid maybe 1-2k total over the 12 years.

 

[txrose1998]

Well that kinda sucks. I just found out my fiance is already working with Supportkids. She had no idea they turned arrears into debt, thus now the father can claim Bankruptcy and not be responsiable for the $34,000? That is if they find him, since the state of Florida hasnt been able to in 2 years, that is if they even tried to locate him. That really blows. There is just so much wrong with that its not even funny, my fiance saw no other options since the CS office has been able to do ZERO in 11 years. I think the father has paid maybe 1-2k total over the 12 years.

They count on people not knowing that. It does suck! They are pretty unethical considerng the make a fortune of women and men who generally have not seen a dime in years from their exes. Yes, he can claim bankruptcy and not be responsible. The other thing about it is that the courts will be even less inclined to help you and her now because they do not work with these companies.

 

[colonnelli]

Txrose, as far as my fiance knows, she did fax them information..I think the court order, case info and she did sign something. However, she still has to be notified that her case would be approved and how much it would cost. Isn't there a legal way we can still back out of their service since we have not been given an acceptance or cost for service as of yet? If so and we can back out, whats next? Contact the FBI? At this point the states will never get anywhere...im even wondering when he does come into an inheritance or anything, they probably would miss that as well.

 

[45Frank]

Does it matter who moved out of the state, payee or payer?

From http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/child-support/criminal.html:

If you have a difficult Interstate case with a large arrearage you may want to seek federal prosecution of the law forying parent. Violation of federal lawfor first offenders is time served in a federal penitentiary of six months. Second offense or more is up to 2 years in a federal jail. The non-paying parent must make restitution in the amount of past due support.

For your case to qualify:

1. The non-paying parent must live in a different state than the child.
2. It has been determined either under a court order or administrative order that the non-paying parent has a past due support obligation of at least one year or $5000. punishable at six months in jail. $10,000 or 2 year non-support is punishable at up to 2 years in jail.
3. The non-paying parent has willfully failed to pay. Willfulness for these purposes is defined the same as the federal criminal tax law as the knowing and intentional violation of a known legal duty. The government must prove that the non-paying parent had the money and the ability to pay the obligation but chose not to pay.
4. Partial payments do not mean that these charges cannot be filed. However, partial payments may show that the non-paying parent did not have the ability to pay the entire child support obligation. An investigation should be done to determine if partial payments are being made because of the inability to pay or because the non-paying parent chose not to make full payments.
5. Prosecution under this law should take place in the Federal District Court where the children live. Benefits include; the child support agency's records of payments and arrearage are in the children's district; there would not be any transportation costs for the custodial parent and children to serve as witnesses, and if the family isare alsoing welfare, the welfare records arealso in the district where the children live.
6. Cases should be referred from the child support agency to the U.S. Attorney's office after all reasonable efforts to enforce the case have been tried and have failed.

 

[txrose1998]

Txrose, as far as my fiance knows, she did fax them information..I think the court order, case info and she did sign something. However, she still has to be notified that her case would be approved and how much it would cost. Isn't there a legal way we can still back out of their service since we have not been given an acceptance or cost for service as of yet? If so and we can back out, whats next? Contact the FBI? At this point the states will never get anywhere...im even wondering when he does come into an inheritance or anything, they probably would miss that as well.

Tough to say really....first you can hope that the case is not approved.....but the odds of that are slim based on what you have said about the case. And since you have not paid anything up front....they get paid when you do like personal injury attorneys. I do not know about the FBI....what I can tell you is what I learned today. I spole with the OAG in Texas (not sure how it works in your state), but apparently after arrears have reached 1k, the feds autmoatically put the ex on a red flag for a passport so he cannot receive one until he settles the debt. Also, they can flag any tax returns.....they did not tell me this when it happened....i just happened to fin one nice person at the OAG's office!

 

[Zigner]

Does it matter who moved out of the state, payee or payer?

It doesn't appear to.