I am trying to collect child support for my grandchild whom I have custody of. The father lives in Mississippi and mother is in jail. I paid a lawyer in advance last October and have received nothing in return, not one piece of paper proving they have made an effort on my behalf to collect. I wish the laws that are on the books were better enforced! They should connect the obtaining of drivers license to the collection of child support and make it connect through computers to every state so that if a parent who has not paid goes in for their drivers license renewal and they were proven to be behind in their child support, then they should be arrested on the spot until they pay up!!! I am sick of useless parents!

Lodee- I was very sorry to hear about your child support troubles. In my state, child support IS connected to driver's licenses which only helps a little. Unfortunately, too many will simply choose to drive without their licenses. Child support dodgers obviously have very little regard for the law.

What troubled me even more was the fact that it sounded like your lawyer is doing nothing. If you have given him/her a retainer and you have not gotten to court in nearly a year, I would write the bar association of your state and request an investigation of your attorney. If your lawyer has actually filed motions and the court refuses to put you on the trial calendar, I would write the judicial ethics committee of your state and find out what is taking this judge so long to getting around to hear your case.

I work in a collections law firm and know there are MANY remedies to get money from someone who owes. It can be a timely and expensive battle but it can be won.

Good luck to you.

Lodee, I commend and respect you for doing what is in the best interest of the child.

I usually don't encourage the federal government, but here goes.

There are very few things for which I feel a federal government is needed. This is clearly one of the cases.

We all pay income tax (except for the folks who just don't feel like workin', God bless 'em!). The government collects taxes from us all.

Why can they not take the child support out at a (I can't believe I'm saying this) federal level, and disburse it appropriately?

It seems logical.

What sense is a judge's order if it is not enforced?

Mike

Lodie why haven't they garnished his wages. it seems to me I think Jaime is right on. get that attorney checked out. seems to me he got paid for nothing. I wish you the best. Let us know how things turn out

im suprised, they are ussually VERY malicous. i was living with my dad and they took away his drivers license and cut his pay bfore it got to him to pay my mom ... whom i WASNT living with, ######ed with us for years. i hate that department for all the troubles it has caused my dad, now i hate them more for the troubles it is causing you.

i agree. i am a single mom who had to get an attorney just to get child support from my ex husband because the state didn't want to step in and do anything for me because i'm not on any kind of aid. someone needs to do more to help these kids get the support they deserve.

I wish something could be done to stop fathers, who all ready have children that they don't support, from starting new families. Some men have several children from 2,3, or 4 marriages and don't really support any of them.

MT

One of the best solutions I've heard of, that appear to be VERY effective, are private "bounty" collection services - bounty hunters who specialize in child support collection. If you have court authority, see if you can contact one of these services. The fees I've heard of are 10 to 20%. They only get their fee if they collect. Carefully review any contracts with bounty services.

I've seen several TV reports about these services. They will track their target across state lines, to pursue their fee.

90 or 80% of the court ordered child support is certainly better than 100% of nothing.

Lawyers are NOT collection agents.