Oregon Modification of Child Support decision 2 days away!

Needless to say, my wife and I have been holding our breath for the last month awaiting this day, which will be Friday, March 9th. It is the day that is 30 days past due for a response from my Ex, and therefore what has occurred prior to this day will determine the next course of action.

Basically, I will call tomorrow to the DHS (Division of Human Services 'Child Support'] and the next day, to inquire on the status: Has she responded? If yes, what next...a telephone hearing with the Judge? -or a scheduled real one? The best and most hopeful status would be that she has not responded at all, and that they would simply grant my request for the lowered amount without a fight, have it stamped 'DONE' and provide my family with crucial and much needed relief from the overbearing and ridiculous amount of child support being drawn from my paycheck.

Even with that, it won't be by much, but it might just be enough for my household to return to a somewhat stable financial situation...without the utilities being shut off, without bills piling up so bad cancellations and collections are sent to our credit report. (These have happened already).

Perhaps then I can begin the long process of repairing our credit, paying off the credit card I’ve had to max out, paying for such daily expenses as FOOD and GAS. I can begin contributing back to my retirement as any normal person should, more than 2% that I had to reduce it to, currently. I can perhaps reduce my payroll tax deductions again to prevent having to pay the IRS next year etc. etc. In the last 6 months, I've all but completely drained the one small mutual fund I had...just to pay for Christmas presents for the kids, mortgage and utility bills, and food. That fund is gone now, and we are literally hanging by a thread as we speak.

 As I write this, my account will bounce tomorrow, another overdraft fee assessed, as the overdue cell phone bill will pull more from our account than is currently in there. I just found out our Dental insurance coverage has been cancelled, due to lack of payment. I had to charge gas just to get to work, as well as my meal to my credit card, as my paycheck doesn't deposit until tomorrow. When it does, it will be quickly absorbed, of course, into our once-again-due mortgage payment, and 1-month past due bills. My wife was almost stranded at her job today because the cable/internet bill auto-pulled their overdue amount, leaving $0.00 dollars in our checking.

This reality may seem incredible to anyone reading this, which as my sites stat page shows, isn't anyone at the moment... but I assure you I am probably far from alone in this hell. I fear that most fathers fall into two categories...those that can afford a lawyer to fight this system, and come out at least in a tolerable situation; and those like me that have been hit so hard, have been punished so severely by a callous, lazy and uncaring Judge, that I cannot afford a lawyer, so must try to fight the system at completely unfair odds. Worse yet, are those that are uneducated, or uncaring, or in hiding...and do nothing - or overwhelmed and completely broke, as the system draws from them whatever they can, and spits them out.

Perhaps someday, when I start to get visitors here, my story will shed some light on some of the injustices being experienced here in the Oregon Child Support system. As I've said when I wrote the first post here, I hope something positive will come of this blog.

In the mean time, I have to nervously wait the hours and minutes going by, until Friday morning comes, where I call the DHS office and wait with a mixture of dread, and hope...for the outlook of our future...

Finally Completed Motion to Modify Custody/Child Support paperwork!

It's been a busy, stressful and chaotic last few months, all with the holidays, trying to get presents for the kids, day and night work schedules, kids school schedules etc. You know, typical American family life, made more stressful by a severe handicap to available funds, known as child support.

I was finally able to complete my filing paperwork, which was no easy task, considering how long it ended up being. I had to be as thorough, and all encompassing as possible, listing all my concerns in as much detail as possible, because I am sending this off to the Child Support Administrations internal modification program. What this is, is instead of filing normal paperwork, which costs hundreds of dollars, and having a court date set, instead you fill out the required administrative paperwork sent by my Department of Human Service's child support division, and send it back. The process is 'free' as far as I can tell, at least until a court appearance is ordered, which I'm still not sure would happen. The drawback, is I don't really get to plea face-to-face with the Judge, for better or for worse, so I wanted to make sure every last thing I wanted to say would be included in the attachment I typed up. This ended up being a whopping 11 pages, typed in MS Word. The other drawback, is once the Child Support Division receives your paperwork, they immediately send it to the other part for their response, giving them 30 days to respond. Depending on the results from this it could go a couple of different ways.
1) If no response is returned, they might push my request through to the judge to have it signed off
[more than likely, with such a complicated matter, involving not just child support but custody and paternity information, this would probably not be pencil whipped by any Judge]
2) If a written response is returned by the other party, disagreeing or contesting my motion, I believe they then send this to the Judge for determination and Judgment.

At least that's how It seems to work. The entire process will no doubt take many precious months of waiting, and more crippling child support payments being deducted from my pay. Nothing happens fast in the legal system, except where money collection is requested and processed.

I will mail this off, and hope for the best...perhaps I will get extremely lucky and my ex-wife will not receive the document [due to her having moved to an address she has not provided me nor the court with] or may not respond correctly or in time. Though, if it's a matter of her losing out on child support free money, I'm sure she will scribble something down and respond, if she receives it.

Due to it's length, and the personal nature of the details involved, I won't upload the exact 11 page text of my request here...however, if anyone commenting here is curious as to what or how I addressed a certain subject or area of concern, please comment and I will reply with the info you desire.

After all, the whole point of this blog is to share and help each other out by comparing notes/advice/situations etc. So just comment here like I said, if interested in more details...!