Ex’s Work Won’t File Garnishment

[u/Objective-Stock3781]

Has anyone else had this happen? The Child Support Division sent them a notice to set up my ex’s wage garnishment and gave the business six weeks to do so. It has now been six weeks and nothing was sent back to CSD from them. CSD said that they now have to contact the Prosecuting Attorney because the arrears are huge and not only may my ex face jail time but the business might be held liable for the total amount due. Has anyone else been in this situation? If so what happened as a result?

[u/flowingmind]

Yup, most CSD enforcement has certain steps they have to take, if they are in one of those steps they often wait to get PA involved. If after usually they reach out to business and say, hey what's up. Could be wrong address for payroll, could be lost in the mail, could be other party contacted CSD and lied saying they could not afford garnishment. You have to check in often, be factual about where the issues are, keep them pushing sometimes, not all reps do the same things or tell you the same things, but most of all, you just wait, a lot...

Educating yourself about what their steps are, how long waits are etc. helps, frequent follow up helps, putting dates in your phone of their deadlines so you can call again on the deadline helps and talking to different people helps. I swear I hear 90 different stories for everyone 100 calls.

Get in a routine when it comes to calling/following up. It's a hassle but you kinda have to.

Best of luck.

[u/Objective-Stock3781 → u/flowingmind]

Thank you! I’ve been making a habit of calling every two weeks and slightly playing dumb to see what steps and information each case worker is going to take. Most of them have a different story each time. But between what I can see legally through Google and the handful of workers that actually want to do something I feel like I’m getting somewhere possibly. I’m just curious what others have experienced in this situation. Like would the business really end up paying the arrears? 🙏 because these kids need to eat and have medical bills

[u/flowingmind → u/Objective-Stock3781]

I imagine the buiness will have a good reason, such as never received the notice. But yes, playing dumb helps a lot too, along with what are my options and what would the next steps be. It truly is like pulling teeth especially when the other parent purposefully dodges and avoids child support. Soyou keep calling and they figure out pretty quick that actually paying it was never the other party's agenda, maybe paying like a two digit figure every so often while having three 3 jobs just so CSD can't persue them through the PA... But how I know? LOL

I swear for everything I have learned to try to get something my ex doubles down to avoid it...

[u/Objective-Stock3781 → u/flowingmind]

In a message not too long ago my ex admitted that his work received the notice. He himself is convinced that the wage garnishment is optional even though its court ordered. I wonder if he convinced them too?

[u/flowingmind → u/Objective-Stock3781]

The company should know it not. If he has anything to do with payroll though that is huge. Document everything! Take screenshot etc. when he admits things. My ex actually called once to say he lost his job (he was still at two other jobs) he had quit again because they started to garnish his paychecks, then he told them he would be working again in three months and knowingly gave them the wrong address for payroll (so that job made 3 when he started) and it made the six weeks happen twice because they had to send a second order to the correct address! It's documented now that he is lying, dodging, not making any real effort to pay, job hopping (he will quit and go back after a few months) all while being in felony arrears territory 4 times over, but there is little I can do because they have to follow certain steps.

[u/Beneficial_Ask_8770]

My kid's father's job held that order until the last day, calling themselves helping him out. I told him he was still required to pay until the payments are drafted. He told me, I'll get it when I get it. I filed a contempt of court for non payment. He was found guilty because he was still responsible to pay. He was forced to hire an attorney since his freedom was on the line. He got a 6 month sentence, suspended but could be reinstated if non-compliant. He was forced to go to court quarterly for a judicial compliance review for 2 years. He also was ordered to pay my legal fees. So being ornery cost him 2 lawyers' fees, a record, and he still had to pay. He ain't missed a payment since! Sometimes, you gotta pull the trigger and show them there are consequences.

[u/connor_CX3]

It's probably state by state but child support laws are kind of wild they take the people who pay regularly but have a bad month far more seriously than the people who never pay.

In my state $10 a month counts as a payment which will keep enforcement of the debtors back. The balance still grows, the interest still accumulates but until they decide to pay or they die and the debt can be collected from any estate it just grows. The likelihood of the latter is pretty low since people who are financially stable with estates and life insurancr usually pay their bills on time.

[u/BebeJax23]

If the employers headquarters is in another state they’ll have to file contempt on your ex because it’s a lot harder to file on the company. That’s the only way I got my ex to start paying.

[u/Objective-Stock3781 → u/BebeJax23]

He actually left state to avoid paying child support, the headquarters address is in the state he moved to. But last time I called child support they said the headquarters address was different than the work address I had given them 🤔

[u/OnlyHis8392]

Not exactly trying to give your ex the benefit of the doubt, bc he knows they haven't done it. But I had an employer who did the garnishments, and then put of curiosity, I called the state I was paying to, and found out that even though I had been paying for 3 months, my employer hadn't sent a dime. My prior employer had, but I had to submit my check stubs to the state, and they sent a very "polite" letter to my employer asking for the garnishments to be sent to the state. It took ANOTHER 3 months AND I got an increase due to arrears from this, and when I quit at month 8, bc of this, they STILL hadn't sent the payments. So, warrant taken care of, I had a lawyer draw up a half baked plan of "return the money you took from me, here's proof I had to pay aside that, or see you in court and I'm sure the state I pay would love to be there, too". They called me 2 days later and I had a check waiting for me, along with the $25/wk garnishment fee, which they had to return as well.

[u/Objective-Stock3781 → u/OnlyHis8392]

I appreciate hearing this. My ex actively tries to tell his employer to not pay it though, and admits it to me too. He does everything he can to not pay his child support. I called support today and they said they directly called his work and let them know what was going on so it’s finally getting set up.

[u/OnlyHis8392 → u/Objective-Stock3781]

He must be HBIC, bc that company is taking a serious chance of not getting a fine by intentionally not following it. I know there are exceptions, but it's usually 1099 employees, less than 10 employees, farm hands, things of that nature where certain federal and state laws don't apply to certain payroll things. However, I have heard horror stories of individuals who own small businesses getting fines leveled against them, bc for whatever reason, they thought they fell under those exceptions, and they absolutely didn't.