PARENT'S RIGHTS NOW!

The system is totally broken. I went into Charleston County Courthouse today to make a payment toward my biweekly obligation of $550 plus a 5% processing fee. The Clerk informed that a Bookkeepers Rule had been issued in my case on February 2. So here's what my documentation says. I have a receipt for a $302 payment made on January 30 showing a credit balance of $50.28. February 1 rolls around and $550 plus the 5% processing is charged to my account. After the credit my balance due for the first biweekly payment in February is $527.22. Monday, February 2, the Clerk issues a Rule To Show Cause for $527.22 plus an undisclosed amount of court costs if I am found in Contempt.

As a side note, after 8 years since this was contested and reversed in my favor, the court still does not disclose how much court costs are, there has been no direction from the legislature on how much to charge for a Rule To Show Cause and now the Clerk is ruling me in on the second of the month when I could not have possibly been able to pay my child support on February 1 because it was a Sunday. If all this did not disrupt my life enough it would be quite the joke, but the prospect of being thrown in jail over this because of some error in judgement by a judge that may just be having a bad hair day is not my idea of how to spend a Wednesday morning.
 

Federal records indicate that the total arrears of support payments paid through the Family Courts in South Carolina is about $1.5 Billion and that South Carolina has been fined approximately $67 Million for being the only State that lacks a computerized Child Support collection/tracking/ditribution system. Is it any wonder that those who are easy to find in South Carolina are going to get crunched.

We have no sympathy for "Deadbeats," but it seems to us that in these times of economic hardship that the Family Courts should cut a little slack and not be so quick to pounce on folks with a solid payment history.

We say, "write your Legislator." And get all your friends to do the same.
 

So the next saga in this chapter of my life is that my exwife went to the Clerk's office to see if she can have the Rule dismissed. I paid up early this week and have a credit balance. The Clerk tells her they have no form Motions or Consent Orders of Dismissal available to sign and that if the Rule is to be dismissed someone has to draft a Consent Order of Dismissal and the Clerk will submit it to the Judge, but there is no guarantee the Judge will sign it. So I draft a Consent Order of Dismissal and send it to my attorney to review. He asks me if she is going to sign it and I tell him "maybe," and what the Clerk has told both of us. His comment back to me is they may want to have the hearing and even if I am not in contempt, my ex is not their to pursue the Rule, they may not find me in Contempt, but I may still have to be the undisclosed amount of Court Costs just because they brought a Rule.

At best I consider this "double dipping." Come on, five percent to process a cash payment and make an electronic transfer into my ex's checking account and then assuming the Judge agrees that I am not in Contempt I still may have to pay $150-$200 in Court Fees? And lets not forget, when it is over they will shove an Affidavit in my hand and ask me to sign it saying I agree that the five percent is ok to charge me for processing the payment.

If that happens I going to object, file a Motion to Reconsider and proceed with an Appeal. As the saying goes, "I'm fed up and not going to take it anymore."