My daughter is almost 4 years old. Her father has never been consistent on any level. I have been dealing with Child Support Services in Sonoma County, CA since she was an infant. I currently have a lawyer. We have a child support order and custody order in effect. However, for at least the last 7 months her father has only paid $1,400 in child support, which didn't even cover his back owed child support! The child support order states that he must pay $681 per month and his visits with our daughter are once a month for an entire weekend (per his request)! I have NEVER denied his visits with our daughter even though he is not paying the child support! Every time I call my lawyer or the local agency, I was get the run around! I am tired of all the games! My question is this, Why do I have to continue allowing the visits even if he is in contempt of the court order for CS? Also, why does a single mother that works full time have to wait so LONG to get any favorable results? While in the mean time the father can just go about his daily life with out any worries or regard to his daughter and what's in the best interest for her? Ps... he honestly asked me, "what does paying child support have to do with being a good dad?"
Please help, is there any way to have ACTION taken against him without delay?

You say you have a lawyer. Have your lawyer fill out proper paperwork, requesting current income for your ex's household, then have it presented to the court with request to have wage garnished if need be.
If visitations are court ordered, unless you have this changed, you have to abide by it whether he is holding up his end or not.
Good luck

My lawyer and child support services have already sent out a wage assignment to garnish his wages, the only problem is he is self-employed. Thanks for the advice though.

Does self-employment enable him not to have his wages garnished? Can you put a lien on his business?

Well, he doesn't own his own business. He is a flooring and carpet installer. Basically, his boss goes and bids on jobs and when they get a contract with a customer his boss uses his license and my daughter's dad does the job. Therefore, there is no record of my daughter's dad even working. At least that's what I have been told by child support services. I know, it's highly illegeal for them to do it, but like I said, no record, no proof!

Damn, dead beat dad's piss me off. My baby's dad is very similar, but I'm lucky if I get 20 a month out of him. Pushing child support legally would do me no good, as he sits on his a** and doesn't work.

First, support and visitation are separate issues and kept separate. So he can enforce visitation even while he dodges support.

My suggestion is to get the county prosecutor involved and see if he can get him jailed for violating the support order.

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Originally Posted by bodmerj

Well, he doesn't own his own business. He is a flooring and carpet installer. Basically, his boss goes and bids on jobs and when they get a contract with a customer his boss uses his license and my daughter's dad does the job. Therefore, there is no record of my daughter's dad even working. At least that's what I have been told by child support services. I know, it's highly illegeal for them to do it, but like I said, no record, no proof!

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OK this answer is only part correct so let me see if I can straighten it out and that may help you better understand.

1) Well, he doesn't own his own business. He is a flooring and carpet installer. Basically, his boss goes and bids on jobs and when they get a contract with a customer his boss uses his license and my daughter's dad does the job.

What this really means is that he is an independent contractor by trade. There is no business license needed.

2) Therefore, there is no record of my daughter's dad even working. At least that's what I have been told by child support services. I know, it's highly illegeal for them to do it, but like I said, no record, no proof!

This is the part I have a problem with. He should be getting 1099'd for the money he is receiving. Also if you have proof he has been working for someone you can supeona the records from that company by filing a motion in court. From there you would have to do forensic accounting to further prove where the money has gone and how much. So yes there are ways to find out. This employer could get into a lot of trouble including losing his business if he gets caught paying totally under the table. Also your ex is responsible for paying taxes on monies he has made from any employer and since he is making a profit he must file quarterly.

Somewhere there are transaction records. Trust me no business can survive without having a set of financial books.

I too have my serious doubts that there is no reccord of him being paid. While being an independent contractor does protect him from his wages being garnished his boss I'm sure had his pay deducted out of what he has to pay taxes on. The bio dad would then have to pay taxes on his earnings (he wouldn't get a return).

This is one of those questions I am asked all the time (usually from a VERY angry client or potential client): "Why do I have to let him have his visitation when he isn't paying the child support!!" Simple answer: the two have NOTHING to do with each other! Further, think of it this way: your child has a dad and has a right to be with her dad even if he is a non-child-support-paying dad. Why penalize her for having a dad like this? Why make her pay the cost of losing a dad? Think of it from the child's perspective. She's not some inanimate object you are allowed to fight over like a TV set ("I won't give him the TV set he's suppose to have until he pays me for my share of the bank account..") NO. That's not how it works and it's wrong to think like that (but I've harped on about this until I am blue in the face with many people and they never get it... )

Collecting CS from a self-employed person is very difficult. True. But the CS accrues interest and won't go away. DCSS can pull his drivers license and contractors license if he has one and he could be charged with criminal non-support (DCSS does this now and again in exteme cases so talk to them about it).

I'm in Solano County by the way (and I'm a lawyer and certified family law specialist).

I wanted to add one thing about child support enforcement, which is handy to keep in mind. In California we have something called a "Wilson order" that is useful when you are trying to collect support from a person who works out of a union hall and bounces from employer to employer at various times. The problem with serving a wage assignment on a union member like this is that he or she will often work for numerous different employers throughout the year and as soon as you locate one place he's working and serve the wage assignment your guy is gone and off to another job for someone else.

A Wilson orders allows you to join the union hall to your case as a party and obtain an order that you be notified within 24 hours of the cs obligor being sent off to a new job. The hall has to give you the name, address and phone number of each employer which allows you time to obtain and serve a new wage each time the obligor is sent off.

So why not ask one of the DCSS attorneys about this: why not try to join the dad's boss to the child support case as a party, obtain a Wilson-like order on him that says he has to notify you and DCSS of the name, address and phone number of any job the dad goes out on or works on? Even if it isn't effective in collecting any child support (maybe the boss lies or is uncooperative) at least it might stir things up enough that the boss will get pissed off and tell the dad to pay the support or maybe fire him. After all this boss doesn't want to get involved in this case, and he'd have to hire lawyers to help with the joinder motion and all of that.

That's what I'd do.

Oh and one more thing (sorry for all these addendums!). Most family law attorneys have never heard of Wilson orders, and that includes DCSS attorneys who are usually right out of law school and as green as the grass. But don't give up just because they might be dummies. Tell them a Wilson order is from a case by the same name (I don't have the cite in front of me but I can get it if you are interested) and tell them there was a great article about it in Family Law News a few years ago (that the magazine for family law section member in California). Good luck.

The "Wilson Order" that cadillac mentions may be worth a try, but I'm not sure it applies in your case. If I understand you, the father "works" for ONE person, rather than several. If that's the case, then it may be possible to serve an order on this person to take a certain percentage of the amount he pays the father.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

The "Wilson Order" that cadillac mentions may be worth a try, but I'm not sure it applies in your case. If I understand you, the father "works" for ONE person, rather than several. If that's the case, then it may be possible to serve an order on this person to take a certain percentage of the amount he pays the father.

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I wondered about serving a wage assignment on this person as well but apparently DCSS has reported that the dad is "self-employed" and service on the boss won't work (all I can figure is maybe DCSS is being told the dad is an independent contractor or something or they've been given some other excuse, possibly a phoney one). I think if even if there's no employer-employee relationship, there's still some work-related connection (sort of like the union hall vs. union member situation) that might be close enough to join the "boss" to the case and to get an order that the boss at least report the jobs this dad goes out on. Now, the boss is probably going to be uncooperative but being dragged into the case will cost him money and piss him off and that might result in pressure being put on the dad to pay the cs or it may result in the boss terminating whatever relationship they have. In any event it can't hurt to try.