How Does This Happen?

Most people, when they hear you are in arrears for child support, stop listening. They assume you're just a dick. I won't make the claim that I'm not a dick. In fact, I plan to become more dickish in the face of what I experience in my transactions with a vengeful and spiteful (and lying and cheating) ex (who calls herself a minister) and the Ventura office of Child Support Services.

But here's another way such things as arrears can happen.

I lost my job in 2009. My attorney at the time told me I didn't need to pay the same support if I didn't have an income. He may have told me to file for a revised support order at the time, but I don't recall. At that moment I made two mistakes: 1. I decided to continue to pay the ex for the approximate six months that my severance would cover. 2. I didn't file for a revised support order.

(A major period of time the ex claimed arrears for was the exact period during which I was unemployed AND paying her the full amount.)

After I returned to work, I tried repeatedly to get the ex to go through the standard DISSO master process whereby the state reviews income and expenses on both sides and determines a fair support payment. The ex refused.

(She refused for the first five years of the divorce also, 2002 through 2007. In 2007, she snuck out of town with my 10-year-old daughter, unilaterally severing my visitation rights. I finally got an attorney and he got her financial records. She had been claiming a fraction of her earnings for the preceding five years. By then, she had bought a house and emptied my savings.)

Then the ex discovered the cast-away ex-wife collection service, the VCDCSS, and began making her false claims.

As a side note, it is clear that the payments I make to her have little to do with child support. From the $800 a month payment, my daughter receives a $10 a week allowance. If my daughter comes to see me, she asks for gas money because she has no other funds. She has modest clothes, and food. The bulk of the money goes to paying her mother's mortgage. The mortgage, as it turns out, is also an perfect shelter to protect the woman from helping her daughters with college. She has no savings, and she quit her job. (She's now remarried, and just like the first marriage -to idiot me - she had a professional job up until just before the marriage. Then she quit. During our 13-year marriage, she earned far less than she'd earned in the single year prior to the marriage. Her new husband is now experiencing this wonderful host-parasite relationship as well. And, checking the public records, no, his name is not on the house. But it's his income (and mine) she's living off.)

We have an older daughter, and in her case the mother has duly demonstrated her selfishness once her daughters turn 18. While this daughter attended college, the mother did not spend a cent to help her. That was all on me. Legally, I didn't have to support her, but I love my kids and did support her. With the mother's mortgage (which no college financial aid program will come after) and no income and no savings, she's setting herself up to avoid any support for the younger daughter.

So, yes, there were arrears.

The lessons from this. If you're a divorced father:

1. Do not listen to people (or your conscience) when they say you should be nice to avoid impacting your children. The fallout of my playing nice always returns to haunt me, always negatively impacts my children, and always costs me thousands of dollars that go nowhere near helping my children.
2. Hire an attorney. Get the financial records and set a realistic support payment. Any observed change in status - added job or income on her side, a loss of income on your side - have the attorney request a revision. Do it every year, right after tax time also. If you feel the mother is lying on her taxes, report her to the IRS.
3. Watch the woman like a hawk. She is a flight risk. I now know of many women who have snuck out of town with their child, not to protect the children from the father, but simply to remove them from their father's life. It is an act of spite.
4. If the woman goes to the department of Child Support Services and you do not have an attorney, get one. The first question they ask is, Do you have counsel? If you do not, you go into the revenge hopper. If you do have one, you still need to be vigilant. Get a full accounting and file review immediately, and then do it at least annually.
5. If you have an arrears account with no court order, you may want to consider closing your bank accounts and sending your money through someone else's account. Certainly remove your name from any accounts you may have with a new spouse, business partner, or child. The state will empty those accounts too. I know.

If you're not married yet, and are considering it, assume the daughter is in the mother. I met this woman's mother, but couldn't believe that anything that vile (the mother-in-law) could spawn something as vile as itself. My ex is by far more vile than her mother.

Ventura County Continues Illegal and Prejudicial Practices

As of January 15, 2014, I have paid the undisputed arrears amount for my child support to the Ventura County Department of Child Support Services in full. I have made clear that I dispute both the interest charged (because the account was opened with no notification and half the amount was charged against clearly false claims) and the false claim amount that equates to roughly a year of support payments that I made and have since provided full evidence of including the bank statements and cancelled checks.

How does Ms. Helen Ayala and the Ventura County Department of Child Support Services respond? Today, January 27, 2014, Ms. Ayala levied my bank accounts, emptying my 22-year-old daughter's account, and pulling a sizable amount from my account as well.

California Dept of Child Support Services, Grand Jury, District Attorney, Congresswoman Brownley, Senator Jackson… Here's some questions to ask when you inquire into the practices of this department:

1. How are arrears claims created? Based on what evidence?
2. When they are created, how is the person named notified?
3. Is there a public record of the arrears account?
4. On what basis are a debtors bank accounts levied? For instance, is revenge a qualifying reason?

Given their behavior, especially Ms. Ayala's and her supervisor, Ms. Deborah Frahm's, this department clearly gets away with whatever they want. There are likely hundreds of cases in which they have used illegal, strong-arm tactics against fathers. The department needs to be cleaned out. Ms. Ayala should be doing jail time.

Adding Insult to Injury

This is an update to the Illegal, Deceptive and Preferential Practices of the Ventura County Department of Child Support Services post.

January 24, 2014

On January 23, I heard back from Ms. Ayala of the Ventura County Department of Child Support Services and spoke with her personally on the phone. She confirmed that the department created an arrears account in my name based solely on a single form filled out by the mother, and with no verification or input from me.

Ms. Ayala also confirmed that, while the department will take the mother at her (blatantly lying) word, that they do not accept any evidence from the father, even if that evidence is bank statements and cancelled checks for the court-ordered amount of child support clearly cashed by the mother.

All of this she delivered with a bureaucratically smug and entitled attitude, oozing patience and a position of rationality.

So, Ms. Ayala, you've made it clear. It's your playing field. What can I do? 

She informed me that my only recourse is to hire an attorney and bring the matter to court. 

Nice. The mother, at no cost, can make any claim she wishes and have a grindingly powerful and invasive government agency do her collections for her. The father must spend $3500 or more to have valid financial documents even considered.

Well, maybe.

One thing I can do for almost free is... COMPLAIN.

Two Ends of Every Stick

I have tried to be responsive and fair in my dealings with the VCDCSS. I paid the actual arrears in full. But this stick has two ends.

I sent off my formal complaint to the California Dept. of Child Support Services, and with cover letters, the same complaint to the director of the Ventura County Dept. of Child Support Services, the Ventura Grand Jury, the Ventura DAs office, and Congresswoman Brownley and Senator Jackson.

Then I informed the mother in the case that if I hire an attorney, the "good bookkeeping" she claims she does will be in court against the cancelled checks she signed. If I have to follow this course, I will also be seeking not just recompense for legal fees, but damages. And not just against her, but against Ms. Ayala, her supervisor, Ms. Frahm, and Ventura County.

If I have not heard anything by the end of January, I'll be sending my materials to the Ventura County Star and local news stations. And I'll start posting the letters I've written to public authorities here.

By the way, if you need to contact Ms. Helen Ayala directly, being a public servant her phone number is very hard to come by. Her direct line is (805) 437 8151. If you can get me direct lines to anyone else in the office, especially Ms. Frahm, I would be most grateful.

Also, because the majority of people affected by this -- fathers without legal counsel -- are non-English speakers, I would appreciate a translation of this site to Spanish.

Illegal, Deceptive, and Preferential Practices of the Ventura County Department of Child Support Services (VCDCSS)

(Note: If someone is willing to translate this into Spanish, I'll be glad to post the translation also.)

Over the last year and a half I have been subject to some clear examples of illegal, deceptive and preferential practices of the Ventura County Department of Child Support Services (VCDCSS).

I filed a formal complaint on January 23, 2014 to the VCDCSS, the California State Department of Child Support Services, the Ventura County Grand Jury, and the Ventura County District Attorney.

If you are the divorced father of a child under the age of 18 in Ventura County, and your spouse initiates a case with the VCDCSS, you need to be aware of these practices.

1. Illegal creation of arrears account

When a case is started with VCDCSS, both parties fill out an arrears form. Arrears are child support payments owed. They are funds either not paid or not fully paid. In my case (and given my treatment, I suspect in most cases), my arrears declaration form was completely ignored, and only the mother's was used to establish an arrears amount.

This is not the end of it.

The VCDCSS representative, Helen Ayala, created an arrears account for the amount claimed by the mother. Ayala did not create the account through an arrears order (a court process) or by any other official method. There is nothing in the public record about the arrears account. I, the person supposedly owing, was never informed. No call. No letter.

And yet, from day one, the county began charging interest on an amount that was unverified. The amount was literally the word of one person in a dispute.

2. Deceptive collection practices

Ms. Ayala sent an order to attach my wages for child support. Fair enough. My employer complied. On this initial order, there is no mention of arrears. One month later, Ms. Ayala sent a second order. This order added $50 a month for arrears. But because it was an addition of a small amount, I was not informed in any way. No order, no letter, no call.

This went on for a year and a half. Then I changed jobs.

When you change jobs, your current employer informs the VCDCSS of the change. Ms. Ayala, again without contacting me, simply sent my bank an order to empty my accounts for up to the full amount of the arrears. (This was all accounts with my name on them, including both my daughters' saving accounts.)

I did not learn of this until I went to pay bills a day or two later, and I could not. I contacted the bank where I learned what organization had done this. I contacted the VCDCSS and requested information about this surprising arrears account. From the VCDCSS, I received a statement of my account, now running with 18 months of interest on a highly inflated amount. It also contained a copy of the mother’s arrears claim form, which showed how they had arrived at the amount. Over half of it was completely made up by my ex, but that's a different evil.

3. Preferential treatment

I prepared a packet of bank statements and cancelled checks proving that I was making regular, monthly payments for the amount of the court ordered child support for an entire year during which the mother claimed I had not paid. I also paid the full, actual arrears without the interest. I asked for a full accounting and a revised statement.

I heard nothing.

I called several weeks later. Ms. Ayala replied a day later, leaving a phone message stating that Ventura County was rejecting the evidence I had supplied them - the bank statements and cancelled checks - because Ms. Ayala had spoken with the mother, and took her at her word that she “kept very good records” and that these payments were “reimbursement for expenses and not child support.”

Given the existence of the bank statements and cancelled checks, clearly the mother is lying. But it is up to the county, which has inserted itself in the middle of a family, to base their decisions on fact and court documents. The fact that Ms. Ayala is completely willing to accept hearsay (from the mother) is an indictment of the department and of Ms. Ayala as a public 'servant.'

HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?

I hate to say it, but if you can afford an attorney, get an attorney. But beware of attorneys. Interview them. You may just need someone to funnel your documents through and watch your back. The $3500 retainer (or whatever it is they ask) is worth it if they actually do their job.

If you can't afford an attorney...

1. Review your files

If you have a case with ANY Department of Child Support Services in ANY county or in ANY state, I would start by requesting to review your file. Go in and ask to physically see it.

2. Request a recalculation of support at every change and at least annually

The mother, in my case, routinely hid her income. This only came out when she moved away (without informing me) and I had to get an attorney to deal with the issues. Getting income recalculated based on income tax returns every May 1 is a good idea. (This will not stop your ex from lying on tax forms, but there are consequences of getting caught in that arena.) And getting it recalculated when something changes, especially when you lose a job, is critical.

3. Put everything in writing

For all requests, responses, etc., with the Child Support Services staff and with your ex, do not speak about any issues. Always put things in writing.

4. Keep every record

I did not have bank statements from 2009, the year the mother in my case lied about. In the interim, my bank had been acquired. I paid for every single statement and check copy they made for me. It was over $200 when we were finished.

5. Yes, you still always lose

The father, no matter what your behavior, is vilified as 'deadbeat.' My arrears accrued during a period when I was unemployed and I neglected to get my support payments recalculated.

WHAT IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT?

Well, good luck. The system is set up to make complaints difficult. The Ventura County DCSS site has a complaint resolution page. Which tells you to call their office. If you call their office, they will move you up the chain of command with as much resistance as they can. Maybe go to the state? The state site tells you to go to the county site.

I've chosen to write a letter to the organizations I listed at the beginning of this blog. I'll get back to you on how it goes.