How can I full on pursue a DEADBEAT DAD in CA?

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CaliforniaMom

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My jurisdiction is: California

Hello all,

I am in a situation where I was married and had 2 kids. Their father left years ago. We divorced and had the child custody/support order completed. He was offered supervised visitation, which he never did. He has not seen the kids since he left over 8 years ago. He only recently paid a small part of child support... around $400... but, that stopped. He owes over $100k in back support. I am filed with the child support office in the county we filed for divorce. Apparently he is not working again. When he does do any work, it's all "under the table"... the county/state can never catch up to him.

What can I do? How can I force the county/state to find and pursue him? Can I get him thrown in jail for not complying to the order? I can't afford a lawyer :( My kids need things I cannot afford and I want to pursue the deadbeat jerk as hard as possible and have him thrown in jail if he refuses!!!!

Can someone please help me and advise what I might be able to do... how to go about it... or even what may not be allowed in my state?

Thank you very much in advance!!!!
 
If he goes to jail, you won't get anything at all and he'll have a great excuse. Besides, that is a rare occurrence.

All you can really do is keep on the county to pursue him for back payment. They can also seek a suspension of his license for being in arrears - this is something they may have already done.

- Carl
 
You just let Child support services do their job. My Husband and I are/were dealing with a Deadbeat Mom who hasnt paid a penny in 5 or more years and her support is less than cost of cigarettes for a month. She found a loophole and now legally doesnt pay anything. Do what we did dont let this become an obessesion or even dominate your life. Do what you have to care for your children an dlet the County do what they have to. Any info you have or find out give them outside of that just love your children.
 
The state cannot force him to pay. All they can do is put him in jail. Just an FYI..statistics show that the less rights/custody a father has, the less likely he is to pay child support. Keep that in mind when moms fight for supervised visits or sole custody. 85% of non custodial fathers pay child support. This is not to point the finger at you but when parents divorce and are civil about it, the more likley a relationship with the kids is saved and child support paid.

The state can and wilkl only do so much to recover this money. You might want to try a child support collection agency. However if Dad has no job, no bank acounts or no assets, recovering the money will be hard. I assume he does not file taxes either? any refund he gets would be intercepted.
 
Thanks

Thanks all. The jerk has owed for over 8 years... this isn't the only 2 he has done it to. His issue is owning up to his responsibilities. He'd rather act like a child and be care free... and let others pay his way. My 2 are not the only ones he has done this too now... and he had visitation rights w/ the others... just chose not to stay in their lives. He didn't even know he had supervised visitation as he never appeared at the last court date. He left after our first hearing for our divorce and never looked back... didn't even call. My issue is my daughter needs extra help as she has a learning disability and I cannot afford to get her everything she needs. I make a decent income, it gets us by... but, not enough to provide all the extra help for her. It just makes me so mad that he can walk out and avoid a court order and really not have any consequence. His license has been suspended... but, as for that... he really don't care... he was driving w/o one when we met... I helped him get that. I believe the only way to get him off his behind is to seriously light a fire behind it... throw him in jail for a few months and threaten it will happen again if he don't step up and pay as stated in the court order.
 
Unfortunately, jail is rarely a remedy in these situations, so you will have to rely on other means.

In the meantime, do not count on his financial assistance and seek aid through whatever resources are available to you within your city and county.

- Carl
 
Just an added note. If you get state help in any way they will seek repayment through Dad. Once Dad owes state money they will pursue it with much more effort
 
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