WON'T CHILD SUPPORT RECOVERY AGENCIES
HELP ME WITHOUT CHARGE?

YES...but while state agencies do have some advantages on the collection side, and the ability to snatch income tax refunds is one, the advantage of hiring a private attorney for child support matters are great. I am reminded of the case I'll refer to as the "Poor ol' Mr. Gotrocks" case. The names and places are altered slightly to protect the guilty.

Sue and Gotrocks fell in love and married when they were students at the University of Mississippi, where Gotrocks was a sophomore defensive tackle on the Ole Miss Rebel National Champion football team. They had two children, Scooter and Heiferhorn. Upon graduation, they divorced and Gotrocks moved away and never payed his child support as ordered---Sue didn't know where he was, and his family wasn't talking. Later she learned from a classmate that Gotrocks had been drafted and was now a chopper pilot in Viet Nam. She promptly contacted the Army with her order, and support began to come directle from Gotrocks monthly paycheck.

After his tour of duty, Gotrocks left the service and disappeared again. Scooter and Heiferhorn grew to adulthood and Sue was absolutely desperate at times during their youth. One day in the 80's, Sue happened to be watching the presentation of a bowl trophy to the then NCAA Champion and was stunned to see Gotrocks making the presentation on behalf of the sponsor, Amalgamated Widgets International, to the Coach of the winning team.

Next day she contacted Amalgamated and was routed to marketing where she asked how they happened to get Poor ol' Mr. Gotrocks to do that presentation. She was told that Gotrocks was a former teammate of the Coach to whom he presented the trophy, and that he was President of Trinitrofuzzball, Inc., the principal subsidiary of Amalgamated and was a major stockholder in Amalgamated and on its Board of Directors. Gotrocks lived in New Jersey, and owned various properties. He also had plenty of resources to spend on lawyers.

Sue came to see me on the advice of a friend. I could see that there were early challenges, with a Mississippi order and a New Jersey resident with money, but the arrearage, at interest, was a whopper. She did not wish to give up half the total for what promised to be a skirmish that would finally be decided in the New Jersey Supreme Court. She left and went to a state agency.

Years later, I learned that she had settled her case for a fraction of her entitlement because governmental agencies simply do not have the human and time resources to commit to heavy duty resistance. Rule no. 1 in a business negotiation...it doesn't matter what others get from the deal if you get what you deserve. Yes, lawyers cost money, but the lawyer should not be the focus in a child support collection decision.

Government agencies have enormous caseloads and overworked, chronically behind case managers. They are notoriously slow, and will readily tell you that it will be months before they can get to you...and that's months of no child support or less than what you should be getting. They simply cannot gear up for contested matters, and they are too unwieldy to respond quickly when changes happen, like when a debtor changes jobs. It's frustrating and slow and costly to the recipient in terms of lost opportunity, but the agencies here do employ conscientious and capable people who do a good job with what they have to work with, but there's just so much to do and so many tax dollars to throw at an enormous problem. Verily, the state of Georgia has hired private collection agencies to try to help. That results in companies with thirty or so employees in Atlanta trying to locate and collect from tens of thousands of debtors in places like Savannah and Valdosta for a small commission. Doomed to failure.

In short, if you are willing to assume a good bit of risk and wait for awhile there are good people available in the government agencies to help you. If you are interested in quicker action, fast response time, individual attention and dollars sooner then you might want to talk to an experienced child support collection attorney.

...and income tax refunds can only be snatched once a year...

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