EndOfRoadWife

I'm owed child support $ and am getting nowhere. It seems my enforcement officer has been brushing me off the past few weeks. So a friend of a friend told m e to stay on Domestic Relations and tell them you want him held "in contempt of court"..I just did this today after the secretary at DR told me that my enforcement officer was gone for the day (as usual)..So, I asked to speak to the HEAD CHEESE guy and the secretary got really nervous and asked if I 'd like to at least wait for tomorrow or take a message or do both..I said "I will do both and here is mymessage "I want him held in contempt of court"...She was still worked up and told me that she can help me right away and for me to put that in writing and mail it..I told her I'll fax it right now..Now does anyone know what will happen? Will he go to jail if he doesn't pay or will he have to pay the arrears which is up to over $4200? Thanks!!

JessicaNAJ

In my city - a Contempt of Court for child support is an automatic arrest.

If someone pays the bond (which would be the arrearage (sp) ), that money would go to the person it is owed.

Chuckles101301

It depends on your state. Here, you can lose your license, can't renew a passport, don't get an income tax refund if you are more than $1000 in arrears. You can file a contempt motion, but the wheels of justice are slow. We filed contempt against my stepsons mom for different reasons and they gave her a slap on the wrist. It is usually different when money is involved. I think that you can file your own motion for contempt or nonpayment of child support. Keep an eye on where he is, address, work etc. Are his wages garnished? Does he have employment? If his wages are garnished, then they can take out a little more each check until the arrears are paid off (here it is something like 5% more), but if not they may make him do a good faith payment to avoid jail. Does he have parenting time? Why are you owed this amount....just non payment? Did he lose his job etc.? Do you have a relationship where you can ask him what the heck is going on?

EndOfRoadWife

Oh my! Maybe that's why the secretary was all worked up? Unless its because I asked to speak to the Director at Domestic Relations.. Wonder why my enforcement officer didn't do that on her own? I had to tell the secretary I wanted this and she said "Ok and for me to put it in writing"...hmmmmm Thanks a lot Jessica! People know so much on here, that's why I figured I'd probaby find out the most on this site! Everyone is so helpful! Thank you!

EndOfRoadWife

Chuckles_He works for a mortgage business and I am suspecting that he is paid cash..I have never seen one paycheck, we have separate accounts, last yaer he collected unemployment while he was working full time and then overtime on top of this..I Told DR this and my attorney, but no one seems to care. Also I might add that he drives a brand new BMW the 5 series..So, it's not like he's not making $..He is partying it all away and driving around in that car..I e-mailed his employer, the wife, and she never answered my e-mail..I was nice but asked her if anything was being done because she is the one that handles it..I think there is illegal activity going on there...people getting paid cash..This is in downtown Pittsburgh..Thanks chuckles..If you can think of anything I need to do, let me know! I appreciate it!

walkingtheline

I am an officer in a small nationwide mortgage biz.

In PA his company MUST report his income to the banking commission or risk losing their license and they must either pay him W-2 or PROVE he fits the 1099 platform. If someone were to supena their pay records his income would have to be revealed or they would lose their ability to do mortgages in PA.

I just finished our PA renewal...all 28 pages of it! Those questions are in there.

Another thing that you might find helpful. Should he ever want to start his own company OR get licensed out of state his credit would be reviewed by various state and federal agencies. In most states a judgement for unpaid child support, taxes or student loans would automatically result in no license being issued.

You have leverage if those in power will use it. And if you need to have contact info for the Department of Banking in PA just let me know and I can post it or email it...I have address, phone, names ect.

walkingtheline

He cannot be paid in cash or as a 1099 employee unless he holds a PA mortgage broker's or banker license in his own name. If he works for another broker, hemust be a W-2 employee or both he and his employer are in violation of the state regulations, I just reviewed the law. He also must be registered with the state banking authority, pay for his registration (or his employer can pay for him) and he must complete continuing education yearly.

Taking his job might not get you paid, but if you provide the law to your child support leverage people, they might use the knowledge to get both HIS and his employers attention.

EndOfRoadWife

walkingtheline-thanks for all the info..I think there is no way they reported him because he collected unemployment last year the while entire time he was working at the mortgage business..(I told Domestic relations that he is not unemployed)..It didn't seem they cared..I thought it was illegal to rip off the state's money and collect unemployment when he was definitely employed..He would call his hours in every week for unemployment..Also, I know at this business they were hiring a receptionist and I heard him say it was $10 per hour cash...I think they are doing things illegally. MY AH is working for a broker (but always talks about starting up his own but he always has lots of BiG ideas) I kind've want to go the route of letting domestic Relatoins handle it because I do know that the owners (which is a husband and wife team), her father was a big MOB guy in Pittsburgh and was in jail for years over it.. If my enforcement officer calls me today, I am going to tell her about subpeona'ing his records (although I wish she would start doing this herself since it is her job)..I need the toughest enforcement officer there is in dealing with him..Let me know of anything you think I should do to get results since you are familiar with this business! Thank you very much!!

chrisea

this isn't a suggestion to what you are to do, but a view that I have seen... About 8 or 9 yrs ago on an Altoona pa tv station, they were interviewing some guy that was unemployed. He stood there in front of the camera, and told them that he knew he would be called back, but in the mean time he was working for his fil doing construction work... hmmm. I often wondered if any body else caught that.

tootiredmom

oh goodness.... a domestic relations question! Hold me back. I am a lawyer who primarily practices in the area of divorce and post divorce issues. I want to defend the collection lawyer a little to you. What you don't know, probably is the people who do child support enforcement have hundreds and hundreds of cases and are paid only half of what they are worth, so, cute the lawyer a little slack. On the other hand, you can't always wait on the child support enforcement team's time table and you might consider hiring your own lawyer. Collecting child support is hard to do when a paying spouse just refuses to pay. It can be done and you have the right idea, to file a motion for citation in contempt. Just keep at the enforcement officer and you will get somewhere, or hire an independent lawyer. Good luck. This is always a difficult part of post divorce work.

Magichappens

Bench warrant in whatever jurisdiction the court is over. Around here, they visit the home, and arrest the person if found. They persue it some but not fervently. Then, if the person isn't brought in, the warrant stays valid until they are brought up, or stopped for any other reason by the law enforcement in that jurisdiction, such as a traffic stop.

An issuance of a bench warrant is the courts order to arrest the person and put them in jail. As others have said, your participation in the apprehension can help bring it about. Hugs, Magic

prodigal

However, I cannot legally give you advice on this board. I work on Lexis and Westlaw all the time dealing with just this kind of domestic relations "junk." If you want to know the legalities of the issue, you can PM me. I cannot advise you as to what you can do - only a licensed attorney practicing in PA can do that - but I can tell you what the PA statutes say regarding nonpayment and how the court system will attempt to collect.

Contempt in this situation is not tolerated as much as it was in years past in my state. Judges got sick and tired of spouses trying to evade their responsibilities and started coming down hard - garnishing wages, and if unable to do so, throwing the guys in the slammer for a few days to shake them up. Some of those fellas were a little frightened when 350-lb. "Bubba" started taking a real liking to them!!

EndOfRoadWife

Thank you all! I do have an attorney who I am using for the divorce..I did tell my attorney about him working and I think getting paid cash..The latest update is on last Thursday, I e-mailed my AH's owner of the company and told her that to please let me know what is being done because I have been waiting for money to be taken out of his check and if it isn't going to be taken out, to please let me know and I will let my attorney know..So, I will know my next step..The very next day, she e-mailed me and said she will be attaching his wages starting in 2 weeks!!! She told my enforcement officer that he hadn't been getting paid cause they weren't making any money (funny he has been driving that brand new BMW all this time) and that he will get his very 1st paycheck starting in 2 weeks!!! (So, I was right all along) Maybe she got scared since I told her I will have to let my attorney know..My checks should be starting to come now, but if he doesn't pay some arrears, I still may hold him in contempt of court..Its a shame people can get away with making all this $ and it is hidden money while my children suffer and aren't going to get the true money they are entitled to....