Delinquent Child Support

[robre3]

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: California

I recently made application for a passport for my honeymoon, only to find out that I am supposedly $28k in arrears in child support (interests and penalties have accrued). After contacting the child support office I was told that I would be unable to get a passport for my honeymoon until the total is paid. Needless to say that my new bride is devastated and has cried for what seems like days. This might sound like baloney, but I had no idea that the amount I owed was this large. I was never served any paperwork from the courts notifying me of this. I have a current drivers license, so there has been no type of problems with it being withheld. My honeymoon is in three weeks. What options do I have as far as trying to either prove that I was never served and to somehow set up a payment plan to get this "hold" lifted in time to get them to issue my passport? Anyone with information please assist.

[Missnaz]

I heavily suspect you will not find much of a sympathetic ear here, nor in the courts. The question will be, "If you cannot afford to pay your child support, how can you afford a honeymoon?"

Where were you planning on traveling? A passport is not required (usually recommended) if traveling by a personal vehicle in North America. If you were to fly from Ca to Mexico, then you would require a passport, but NOT if you drove.

FYI, my significant other gets statements through DES in Az stating that the arrears are x5 what they really are about once a year. Our standard letter gets mailed out and then we get a corrected statement shortly thereafter. Regardless of what the outcome is for your passport issue, I would get some sort of statement of account for the arrears they've calculated.