Find Deadbeat Dads

Previously, we discussed low cost options for collecting past due child support, including filing a wage assignment.

A wage assignment is a great first step for anyone with a delinquent “ex”, particularly one that’s steadily employed for someone else. And, for the person with limited means needing comprehensive assistance, CSE can’t be beat, although their high caseload often means it can take 6 to 9 months or more for CSE to execute their administrative options of tapping into someone’s wages or placing a lien on their bank account.

But for the price, these alternatives deliver real value, but only if they succeed! Too often, though, collecting from “deadbeat dads” can be a frustrating game of cat and mouse. This is particularly true if the owing parent is self-employed or hops from job to job, making a wage assignment ineffective. It is equally frustrating tracking down their savings, which they move from bank to bank, or stash in the account of a friend or family member. Or, the “ex” that has squirreled their acorns away in a brokerage investment account or retirement plan, which require more complex legal procedures to break open.

These are situations where a private attorney can be more effective, but at a cost likely to be at least several hundred dollars. The attorney, though, will be able to give your case a great deal more priority and directly execute whatever remedy is needed at the earliest opportunity.

After filing the wage assignment, your lawyer can move immediately to file garnishments with the court to capture whatever cash, stocks, bonds etc. your “ex” has stored in banks and brokerage investment accounts, plus place liens on whatever real estate and other valuable property he owns. However, your lawyer’s ability to move quickly assumes that you have accurate information on where your “ex” banks or maintains his investments. If this information is not known or out of date, your attorney can subpoena your “ex” and ask him under oath to identify the location of his assets, as well subpoenaing any associates that may be holding funds.

Your attorney can also have a portion of your former spouse’s retirement plan transferred into your name. This is done by having the court issue a Qualified Domestic Relations Judgment Order (“QDRO”), which directs your ex’s retirement plan to transfer up to the full value of the delinquent obligation into your possession. The downside is that often the assets cannot be spent until retirement age, or if they can, a penalty might have to be paid. And in most cases, the person receiving the assets has to pay the taxes due when cashing out, although the value of the assets transferred can be set to include the anticipated taxes.

Lastly, one effective way to motivate a recalcitrant “ex” is by having the court find that he is in contempt of court. Your attorney has to demonstrate that your “ex” had the ability to pay, but intentionally refused. But, once proven, the court’s usual response is to throw the deadbeat in jail, letting him out only to go to work, until the obligation is satisfied. Although the court’s reluctant to entertain this motion until other remedies fail, a few overnights in the county lock-up often brings about the desired effect.

Cynthia M. Fox is an experienced attorney and mediator based in St. Louis Missouri. For over 25 years she has focused her practice in family law, with a particular emphasis on matters relating to the dissolution of marriage: divorce representation and mediation, child custody and child support. Cynthia is a native St. Louisan and a graduate of the Washington University School of Law, Class of ’73. Cynthia is a divorce lawyer who has been where her clients are and understands the pain, stress and uncertainty they are experiencing. Several years ago she went through a difficult and contentious divorce and child custody battle with her ex-husband, and has traveled this same path with clients hundreds of times. These experiences led her to reshape her approach to the practice of divorce law, which she calls The Constructive Divorce. The intended result is that her clients are able to move onto the next stage of their lives feeling whole, with their financial and emotional resources intact, and their family relationships preserved.

If you are just starting to think about the possibility of ending your marriage, have already decided to seek a divorce (or your spouse has made that decision), or you want to revisit issues from a prior divorce, such as child custody or child support, please call Cynthia Fox at 314/727-4880. Or, you can learn more and make an appointment at her web-site: http://www.foxfamilylawyers.com