Good grief, what a LOOOOONG day that was. Had to be there by 830am for docket call. halfway through docket call the fire alarms start going off which means everyone vacates the building into the already upper 80 central Texas summer morning...the only available shade was being hogged by the smokers so I stood in the sun with the other non smoker. IDK how long we were out there...felt like an hour, was probably less than half an hour....either way, it put everything a couple hours behind.
I finally got to speak with a case worker around 1pm...for the first time....only to be told that my case was way beyond what she knew to do and i would need to speak to one of the lawyers (who work for the state not for the custodial parents). so i go sit back down and wait...and wait and wait. after 3pm that same worker calls me back up so i sit with her and we agree to raise the amount ordered for him to pay (about 4 1/2 times the original amount).
FINALLY got to see the judge just after 5pm...after he had to have a woman removed because she was popping off at the mouth and audibly sighing at him! Oh and then when i let the courtroom to come home, turns out that damn woman done left her daughter (about 10-12yo) there bc the daughter wanted to see her dad and it pissed off the mom so she was cussing the girl and then LEFT her standning sobbing outside the courthouse. I took the girl back upstairs to the courtromo and to her dad...who was PISSED, understandably of course.
so anyway, the judge was in a bad mood so that actually worked for me bc when he was reviewing the case not only did he recognize it (even asked me how school was going), but got more aggrevated because of the amount owed...and since J didnt bother to show up again, the judge just basically said whatever i want as far as the amount to increase it he would approve...so we figured up and came to our amount.
not a lot really was accomplished though. i mean he now owes more than $148,000 which i am certain he'll never pay. the next step is to involve whatever state he's living in so they can enforce the order...which could result in jail time if he doesnt start paying something every month.
there's nothing else i can do, the amount he owes monthly is now maxed out so i dont have any reason to go back to get it increased. now i can only sit and hope something clicks in his head and he starts to pay...or gives up his rights so don can adopt them...in which case i would forgive some but not all of the arrearage.
Where is this guy living? And does he have any contact with the kids at all? I feel for you having to go through all of this..
And that poor girl!!! I hope that dad was able to use that as a way to gain custody of his daughter! I can't believe the mother would use that to get mad at her daughter and just leave her behind.
I applaud any custodial parent for raising their child- often times- alone w/ no support- but to do that to the girl b/c she wanted to see her father- c'mon. Shame on her. If you ever see her again- kick her hard....real freaking hard for me, will ya.
Jennie, he lives either in Colorado or Florida....I'm thinking most liking Florida. The info the Attorney General's Office has is an address in Colorado (which shows to be a store front of some kind on Google Maps) but the phone number they have for him I did a reverse phone number search and it's an unpublished land line in the Miami area. I also did a People Search with his name in the Southeastern Florida region and I am fairly convinced that he is actually living in West Palm Beach....and the area I think he's living in....well, there si NO WAY I could afford to live there. I asked my dad about that area (he and my stepmom drive through there when they go visit friends in Ft Lauderdale) and he said that you HAVE to be able to afford to live there...it's not the typical middle class burbs...the houses are AMAZING!
The last contact he has actually had with the kids was Christmas 2005 when he sent a package with a few gifts for each of them. I also got a child support payment (a drop in the bucket) on May 22 of this year...surprise surprise, I had a court date the following week. Prior to that I hadn't gotten anything since 2003...and of course nothing since. Although I will say the timing of the chieck in May was perfect and we seriously needed it.
As for that other mom who left her kid...it was a classic guilt trip on the kid and trying to use her against her father. I lived with that shit growing up. She was the epitome of the stereotypical ghetto trash (no offense anyone!). I mean here was this dad that OBVIOUSLY loved his daughter (mom wasnt letting go of her younger sons hand so he wasnt getting near the dad), she sat with him, he had his arm around her, they were drawing together---you could see it, she ADORES him...and that no doubt pisses off mom. I know when I got Damon and Zach back from their dad after he had run off with them that they really struggled with who they should be loyal to. It's so unfair to expect kids to CHOOSE...if you love him/her then you don't love me. It just sets them up for all kinds of problems.
I firmly believe that actions speak much louder than words when it comes to things like this. My x-mil had the gall to say to me ONE time "I really hope you aren;t bad mouthing Johnny to those kids. You know he loves them" I LOL and said, "You've got to be kidding me. I don't HAVE to say ANYTHING about him. Him not calling or visiting speaks much louder than anything I could ever say! But if they ask me a question, I refuse to lie to them." (Ex...do you think dad loves us or think about us? I would say, that is a question only he could answer, but you know that no matter what I love you)
Deadbeats suck ass and have no idea what they are doing to the kids.
