Too purty to live in town.....

Monday 2/19/07

Here's the deal about court this am. I got there about 8:15. At 8:30 they let all of us who showed up into the courtroom. One at a time, each party met with the Attorney representing Child Support Enforcement.

The donkey and I got our turn around 9:15. She stated the arrearage amount and asked him if he had brought a payment in today. He stated no. She asked him why he had not been paying. He stated that he "didn't have any extra money."

side note: Joe is his SON, he's a child for crissakes, he's not a f***ing EXTRA!!!

With that statement, she slapped the file closed and stated we would go before the hearing officer. At 11:15 we were called up before the hearing officer. Once again the arrearage amount was stated. The attorney began questioning him. Do you own your home? Do you rent? What is your rent amount? Who lives with you? Does your home have furniture? How much is your furniture worth? Do you have a tv? How many? How large are they? What are they worth? Do you have a stereo? computer? vcr? etc, etc. Each time he had to give an estimated amount of what they are worth. She grilled him good. She was proving he had assets he could liquidate.

He kept trying to make jokes about it, and was being very flippant and casual about it all. It was obvious he was not really taking this seriously. The hearing officer and the attorney were not amused. He stated that this issue was only because I got mad at him for not helping to pay for karate for Joe. There were a few snickers from the other folks in the courtroom.

The hearing officer looked in the documents, and stated she saw nothing to the effect of karate, and that child support is child support, and he agreed to begin paying it at the time of mediation.

He then stated that he was not a deadbeat dad, and was doing his best. The hearing officer stated that since he had not made a payment since September, and he was gainfully employed, so it was quite obvious to her that he was NOT doing his best.

She asked him how much he could give today to prevent him from going to jail. He stated $20. More snickers from the courtroom. She found him in willful contempt of court, and sentenced him to 90 days in jail, reserving that sentence until Feb 26, at which time he need to have at least $750.00 paid. If not, he will be arrested and spend 90 days in jail.

We further discussed the recent medical and daycare expenses he has not paid. He has 30 days to pay that, totally $109.00, or another contempt of court hearing will be scheduled for that.

I did get a surprise check this weekend of almost $60. I thought it was the intercept from his tax return. It turns out an income deduction was put in place and that will be deducted from his pay every week. So, it's a start.

He further revealed that his car was recently repossessed, and he borrowed $500 to get it back. Dumb, dumb, dumb. He just showed the court that he could get the $$ for his child support if he needed to.

I was quite stressed from this. I left the court around noon, and went directly to the surgery center for my pre-op workup. I got done with that, and got to work at 1:30. My boss took one look at me, and asked if I was ok. I told her what happened. She saw my hands shaking, and said that I should just go home and come in tomorrow, that I was too stressed to work, and there was plenty of office coverage today. I wanted to hug her. I didn't need to be at work. I would have made my accounts more messy instead of fixing them.

So, I'm home, trying to unwind. I'll be ok. I just need to destress. He's got a week, and if he don't put up, he'll go to jail. I'd rather have the $$, but him going to jail doesn't sound too bad right now either, and eventually, I'd still get the $$. Maybe now he'll realize that this isn't a game, and will start to take it seriously. I hope so anyway.

I need to write some more about the relational deal with my mom, but I'll save that for another time. I'm too stressed out right now.

My quote for today is: Educations can be expensive.

Thanks for stopping by.
Curls