DEAD BEAT FATHER and NO help...
(Fort Worth)
On June 7th, 1999, I filled Custody and Child Support papers through Tarrant County court in Fort Worth, TX. I was awarded full custody of my daughters and awarded $450 a month in Child Support. Scott, the girls biological father, for several years has been sending just periodic payments ranging from $25 to $117. I have made many attempts to get the Texas Office of Attorney Generals assistance with this issue. They did what they could with it being an Interstate case, and him being in Colorado Springs, CO. After about $12,000 behind in arrearage, I finally decided to go to Supportkids.com for assistance.
They were able to get a few payments from him, and we even went back to court and they ordered him an additional $350 in 2001 to go towards the arrearage. That was as far as that got….frustrated that nothing seemed to be working, and he was getting away with not having to face his responsibility, I handed my case back over to the Texas Attorney Generals Office.
I was struggling, working two jobs trying to do all that I could, because I refused to be one that relied on the Government to support me and my children, when it was my choice to have them. There are so many that abuse and use the system that I refused to be in that category, so I did what I could to support my family. I took a $2000 a month pay cut from my job when I was surplused in Feb of 2008. I am needing the full amount of Child Support that is due to the kids. I have done everything in my power to stay away from welfare, and worked many hours in overtime to give the kids what they need, and want to do extra curricular wise to better improve themselves as individuals.
Scott has been working under the table for his brothers so that he would not have his wages garnished. He dealt drugs for awhile and ended up getting shot, blaming that on me, saying that is what he had to do to get Child Support. I told him he could not blame me, he could have worked just like everyone else that has responsibilities in this world. How is it that I work 40 – 120 hours a week to support my family, and yet he gets to live with no worries or stresses? I guess what really bothers me is that the support that he is getting credit for comes from the Government. He enlisted in the Navy, and slipped and fell on the ice in IL, the first week in boot camp, and now is receiving VA of $117 a month. He tried claiming disability and saying that he was fully disabled after that, blaming the military for him getting into the drugs, and the epileptic seizures he was having, but that came from a drug deal gone bad and him getting shot. That is not the military’s fault at all, just his poor judgment, and him trying to blame the Government so he would not have to work. If he can do construction with his brothers, then he is fully capable of doing anything to uphold his court order of support.
Do court orders mean anything anymore? I mean Scott Lee Garrigan is now over $62,000 behind and never had one day of jail time, or anything….He has not come to Texas to see the kids since 1998. I could not live with myself knowing that in his stupid moment of dealing drugs that something would happen to him and the kids would not know him, so I took them up to Colorado to see him 5 years ago. He has called a handful of times since then, and still has not had anything to do with them since that time. The support is adding up everyday. Texas finally handed the case over to Colorado Springs, CO, El Paso County, 3 years ago.
We went to court finally in Colorado in May and this is what happened in Colorado's Judicial Department:
The judge dismissed the Contempt, per not enough evidence showing that Scott could/did work in 2008. The only time frame that was being looked at in this hearing for Contempt was Jan 2008 - Dec 2008. 1 year out of 10 years of not paying his full support?
The attorney from the Colorado Child Support Office restated to the judge before his decision, that Scott Garrigan had not been seen by a doctor from Aug 2006 to July 2008 at the VA facilities. He is only receiving disability for knee injury not for seizures, the he had stated he was seizure free for over 2 years, and then when he was served with Contempt citation from Colorado on the Texas orders in Dec. 2008, he then went to doctor in Jan 2009 and stated he had been lying to get license back and had been having seizures everyday. At that time and in past there has been no diagnostic testing to prove his seizures or frequency, only his word, and he was not placed on any work restrictions after notifying the doctor of these seizures in Jan 2009. His attorney came back with stating that the Doctor stated that a lot of patients go in and lie to get license back, so this was a common thing. She kept repeating that these are uncontrollable seizures...BUT he had called me and told me a few years ago that he got in an accident, and for some reason the seizures had stopped!! And he had been working now since January with no problems??
So, all in all, he got away with being behind $60,000, and won....10 years took me to get him there and nothing. I am not understanding this at all……why??
We then went back to court here in Texas June 2009, per HIS request for a modification in the Support, that he did not appear or his attorney, so we won a Judgment of $59,000 behind in support and an additional $300 towards arrears, BUT again, this has gotten my children nothing…we are in the same boat as before any of this?
I still after 10 years of fighting for Child Support, refuse to give in to the system and ask for help financially. I am better then that, stronger than that, and too proud to know that I am doing all that I can to be there for my family. I guess I just do not understand. All the government attorney generals websites say here are the things we do for dead beat dads, and people who get behind in Child Support, and are in contempt of court this is what we do to help, but in 10 years I have seen nothing being done for me and my children or to him for his negligence of a court order.. I do not know where else to turn to. Please anything you can do to assist in what is rightfully owed to my daughters, I would greatly appreciate it. There is a grown man out there, that this is his responsibility too, I do not need the government paying what him as a man should be doing. He just had another child in December of 2007…. How can he do this when he has not helped in raising or supporting the 2 that he already had? I have never talked bad about him to my daughters, and have always believed that they would learn and form their own opinion of him, and they have.
