My ex lost his job last year and has been paying less than half of what he was ordered to pay. I was accepting it as I felt like he was giving a good faith effort 'most of the time.' But in May he only paid me $50, which is just a joke (his ordered support is $1,170 for two boys). I am now going back to our mediator who is doing an income demand letter to him. Although I don't want to collect all the arrearages I most definitely feel that he should pay another $350 for the month of May (he lives in a $1,400 a month studio apartment in Topanga Canyon...come on!) I also want to collect in the form of arrearages, whatever it ends up costing me to take this back to the mediator as I don't feel that this should be coming out of my pocket. His wages will be garnished as they were with his previous employer once the new amount of cs is calculated. Can the arrearages also be garnished from his employer and how do I report the amount of the arrearage?
Thank you!
Carolina

I'm in California, as well. DCSS has told me that the most they can garnish monthly is the amount of the current support plus $50.00 toward the arrearages, OR 50% of his paycheck, whichever is LESS. Totally inadequate, if you ask me, since my ex blithely took $400.00 out of my family's pocket every month that he didn't pay, but the state allows him to repay that in $50.00 increments?!?! Oy. Not quite fair, but that's what they tell me.

The DCSS website says that there are other means of collecting, but unless he has cash or assets, which if he's living in the valley in a studio, it doesn't sound like he does, then there really isn't much else that will be done.

They will empty out his bank account if they find that he has one, and they will intercept any tax refunds, etc. But mostly they'll just garnish his wages for the monthly amount plus $50.00.

Good luck to you.

Thank you for responding. I'm shocked that $50 is the most they will take in addition to his regular child support! I certainly don't want to put him in the poorhouse, but $50 is ridiculous. And this whichever is LESS thing...what? I can see that it's urgent that I get this show on the road so that his wages are garnished for whatever the new cs amount will be (which is going to be less than the original $1,180 since he is making less money, but I'm sure it's going to be more than the $400 per month that he has decided he can afford to pay). Because he just started working 40 hours at his new job, rather than the 35 he was working the first few weeks, the mediator had suggested waiting until his paystubs would reflect the updated salary, but it sounds like the smartest thing to do may be to send the Demand letter NOW. He's very slow at responding so by the time he does (the mediator said he would have 35 days), his paychecks will probably reflect the 40 hour work week anyway.

This was a very valuable bit of information, Rodulu. Thank you.

Carolina