I just received a court order to Freeze my assesets because of a $1000 arrears. HOWEVER in August 2011 Lehigh County and I along with my X and MY attorny agreed with Lehigh County for me to pay $500 per month until paid in full. It also stated I had until the end of each month to make the montyly payment. I have kept my end of the deal however Lehigh County has not. When I call all they say is the state of Pa. did it....then I call the State of Pa. and they state that Lehigh County did it...I tend to believe the State as everything was on Lehigh county letterhead. They have frozen my accounts including credit cards....I did drain my bank account before it was hit. This has caused me to accrue over $1000 in bank fees, late rent etc. I did pay off the arrears but it could take weeks before the state of Lehigh County notifies the bank. Lehigh County is in complete violation of our agreement and renegged on the agreement. I am contemplating a lawsuit. How can I have this reversed and sue the county for unlawful freezing of my assets?
FROZEN ASSESTS: EVEN WITH COURT ORDER AND SIGNED AGREEMENT
Systemic Failure
I see that this post is over a year old, but I feel that if others come accross it as I have, my response may help them. It's quite long - but is detailed and explains much.
Rschenkel,
I had a very similar situation in May/June of 2010 when my ex and I went to Domestic Relations (DR) in Delaware County to figure out what child support would be.
Having been through the legal system before, I knew the father of the domestic relations worker we had the appointment with. Basically the ex and I had worked out a monthly sum (ex- $400 per month). We worked things out, and since I did not want to deal with my ex in any capacity....set up an account with the State. After about an hour or 2, and prior to the ex and I leaving DR, the DR worker casually said something to the effect that, "there are always a problems when these things are initially set up so let me know if there are any problems.". I set up a bi-weekly wgae garnishments with my employer, so - I was completely out of the mix so to speak.
Within a month or 2, I received a summons from Delaware County that I was in contempt for failure to pay support, with a Court date for a hearing.
I immediately called the DR worker directly and she explained the 'System' as the following;
"The system is 'broke'. I told you when you were here that there would probably be problems as there always is. Once set up, the two systems are 'Automated', and not compatable. When these things are set up, there are actually TWO systems that do not work well together - 1) the COUNTY system, and 2) the STATE system.
1) The County system looks at 'Support' on a MONTHLY basis. Ex- $400.00 / month. There needs to be $400.00/month in that account. Period.
2) The State system looks at 'Support' on a YEARLY basis. Ex- $400.00 / month, deducted from "26" pays........(NOT 24 pays) .
What does this mean? In or example of $400.00/month in support and being paid 'Bi-Weekly' - see below;
The County needs to see that the 'account' has $800.00/month in it. The State will only deduct $184.62/pay ($369.24/ month). This means that within the 1st month or two, if the State will be satisfied with what it is deducting, ($369.24/ month), but the County sees that as being in arrears, and issues a warrant for contempt.
What is needed is a complete overhaul of both systems, and that is where legislation need to happen.
The above example is what happened to me. The DR worker told me to transfer $100.00 into the Support Account (which I did while onn the phone with her), and she had the warrant recinded.
Rschenkel - it sounds like something similar happened to you. with the 2 'Systems' not being compatible, you got caught in the middle.
Two notes. Yes, get to the
Two notes. Yes, get to the bottom of what happened so it doesn't happen to you again. And consider being ahead by one month so you'll always have a cushion.
Come over to a meeting and we can all discuss what happened. ... http://paface.org/content/meet-help-child-custody-child-support-and-courts
Join us Sat Nov 19 2011 ...
A former support master will speak on Sat Nov 19 2011 ...
http://www.meetup.com/The-Philadelphia-Fathers-Non-Custodial-Rights-Group/events/38434852/?a=md1p_grp&rv=md1p
support issues