I haven't received child support for over a year. The respondent claims that, as of 11/08, he's simply not working, has no income, and is supporting himself by "borrowing money from friends." Oregon DCS finds this to be a perfectly acceptable explanation, and has done NOTHING on their own to try to collect this money. They even lowered the amount of the accrual from the $465 award to $250 based on "future minimum wage earnings." This guy has never earned minimum wage in his life. He's intelligent, educated, and has years of management experience.
Luckily, I also have the State of Washington investigating, but their jurisdiction is limited. ONLY because WA insisted, Oregon finally put a lien on any property sales and any bank accounts. Unfortunately, by now the respondent has probably transferred all his accounts and property titles into someone else's name. He still owns his home, and a quick Google of his name showed that he wrote himself in as a senatorial candidate on his ballot in the last election! Ridiculous!
The caseworkers are rude and indifferent. They refuse to speak to me directly. My WA support officer has to contact them at least three times on every issue before she received a phone call back. Their policies regarding tax refund seizure, etc, are incredibly lax. They only report to the IRS once a year, and only on cases that are at least 6-months or $3000 in arrears. WA reports to the IRS every three months, on EVERY case that is in arrears. Last year, I was lucky enough to receive his $600 stimulus payment, but ONLY because WA reported him to the IRS. Oregon hadn't done it yet. If not for WA, he would have received that money, even though he owed us over $3000. According to my WA support officer, Oregon is one of the most difficult states to work with.
Despite federal reciprocity laws, Oregon DCS continues to sit back and watch as support goes unpaid in bi-state cases, and refuses to make even the most simple effort.
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