The Maryland Child Support Enforcement does not take enough action against deadbeat dads. First, it took me 2 and a half years to get a child support order for my children when I was told it would take a maximum of 6 months (partly my deadbeat lawyers fault). It has been 3 years since then and I still don't get child support regularly, sometimes waiting as long as 7 months to get a payment of one months worth. My son is 17 now and I have never recieved a single payment from his father, whom I divorced 16 years ago.
My daughter is 9 and I get sporadic payments from her father. MDHR gives him 90 days to make a payment and if he doesn't, they send him a letter telling him they haven't received payment. Then they wait 30 days for him to respond. When he doesn't, they send another letter, if you ask them to. When he doesn't respond, they send a notice to summon him to court (another 30 days or more for a court date). He goes to court and pays one month worth, just to start the process all over again.
I can't afford to feed my children and put a roof over their heads, let alone hire another deadbeat lawyer. I have gone to social services, for assistance but the amount I am supposed to receive in child support exceeds the amount required to receive help, so they do nothing except offer food stamps. They cannot garnish his wages because he is self employed. He got to keep the marital home, which was paid off in full within 3 years of purchasing it (thanks to my deadbeat lawyer), simply because I could not afford to keep paying the lawyer.
I had to walk out with nothing of the 4 video stores, car dealership and sign company that we owned, with the only blessing being that I had primary custody of the children. We are now broke and struggling while he still has the house and businesses and the state does very little to collect the child support on our behalf. What can I do if the state does not help?
0 comments