Fulfilled Obligation and Arrears

[JSpence]

My question involves child support in the State of: Virginia

I have a question and not really sure who to ask or what to do and happened across your site so hoping someone can help me out.
My other half has a child (who's in late 20's) and his former employer received a letter from the state stating that he had fulfilled his obligation after he turned 18 (almost 10 years ago). About 3 years ago, around the time that he and I started dating, he received a notice stating that he owed a large sum of money for child support arrears.
He found it rather odd that he would get that, seeing as how his former employer received the letter stating it was fulfilled.
He does not have a copy of such letter as the employer had to fill out the paper and send it back.
He telephoned the child support department immediately to ask why he was receiving such notice and they stated that the custodial parent moved to a different county and when she moved they reopened the case.
Around the same time that he received that notice, he went to renew his driver's license (around his birthday) and they told him that he could not because it was now suspended for failure to pay child support!
I don't have children nor have I had to deal with such an issue before, but would the state reopen the case just simply because she moved? I would think that she would have had to reopen it, no?
When he & I started dating I had asked if he had contact with his child and he said that she would not let him, even though the child was now over the age of 18!
I contacted her and we actually became cordial. In one of our conversations she stated to me that she owed the IRS approximately the same amount of money that the state was claiming he owed for back child support. It could be coincidental but it seemed rather odd to me.
At any rate, he contacted the agency and they were supposed to mail him an itemized listing of all payments. That never happened. He contacted at least 3 different times and nothing. He didn't receive any further letters, notices, for almost a year. Then they started coming approximately 2 to 3 times a year since. Not quarterly or monthly, just randomly.
Some of my questions are, who would have reopened the case? If the former employer (which is no longer in business) received the letter stating he fulfilled the obligation, is it right for them to reopen the case? And what can we do to fix this situation?
He hasn't been able to find a job because of not having a license. I have inquired about a hardship license so that he would at least be able to accept one of the numerous jobs he has been offered but can't because of no license, and I was told that they do not give hardship license for persons who have had their license suspended due to child support.
An old neighbor of mine had gotten a DUI and she was able to get a hardship license to go back and forth to work. If they can give persons who could have possibly hurt or killed someone or themselves a hardship license, why would they not do it for someone who wants their life back?
As an outsider looking at both sides of the coin, I would say she had the case reopened because she needs help financially.
Just last year she wanted to send the child to live with us (we live in a different state) and one week before she did a 360 and said she didn't want the child coming because she would lose some sort of benefits.
I don't get it and I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this mess. I want both parties to be happy and am trying to avoid having to hire an attorney to sort this out as I really don't have the means financially to help him adjust this situation. Is that the only choice I have?

Thank you for letting me talk your ear off, I just don't know who else to turn to. Any advice is deeply appreciated.

Sincere thanks.

[Dogmatique]

One question.

Was Mom ever on state aid?

[JSpence]

I'm not 100% sure but I do think so. I seem to remember her saying that once.
She believes that her child has a disability and enjoys taking the "child" to different doctors and getting the child put on different medications.
I know she has stated that she was going to try to get assistance for the medications and some sort of living facility. That was one conversation. The next conversation it was that she was going to try to see if she could get it so that the child could not make any decisions for their self. In my opinion she needs some counseling or something. She goes from one extreme to the next and it seems everyone around her suffers for it except her. Sad.

[Dogmatique]

I'm afraid your husband might need to actually get to the CSE office in person and basically stay until someone will see him (without trespassing, naturally).

Having said that, why doesn't your husband have a copy of documentation saying his obligation was fulfilled?

[JSpence]

He says he never received anything in the mail. The only time he ever saw it was when it was sent to the employer he had at the time. The former employer retired & sold his business but is still around. We asked him if he would have that paper somewhere in his paperwork and he said no because it was to be filled out and returned. He doesn't remember if he ever made a copy of it for his file and it's too late to check now because he only kept his files around for 7 years after closing his doors.
Wouldn't the county who sent the acknowledgement to begin with have that on file though?

[Dogmatique]

I hate to ask this.

But are you absolutely sure he's remembering correctly? As a rule, CSE don't just open new cases like that. Something would have triggered it - and if Mom had tried to get child support after the age of majority, they simply would have turned her down.

[JSpence]

When I asked him about it, he said that there was a time back in the mid 90's that he switched jobs. When he first got hired on, the employer did not take out child support and there was approximately 6 months that were missed. He remembered that when they did start taking the payments again that the normal amount was taken out plus an additional amount for the arrears.
However, when he spoke with a woman at the CSE, she stated that those months were never paid for and that is what the arrears is based off of. She claimed that interest was tacked on from the missing months and to-date. His monthly amount was $650 for the one child. To my calculations, he would owe $3,900, if it is true that the months were not recovered. I just can't justify the amount they are claiming he now owes, over $45,000!!! I don't understand it and I am at a loss as I haven't a clue what to do.
Also, the last job he did have (the one where the notice was sent), his wages were way lower than the wages he had when the child support was configured. He didn't know that he could have gone back to the courts and ask them to lower it based on his income so he just continued to pay the $650/mo.
I would agree with you that if she was simply trying to get money they would have turned her down but when she moved from one county to another, it became a different court so not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. The notice of fulfillment was sent from the former county and her current county is the that reopened the case. I don't get how someone can go for almost 4 years without hearing a word and then poof, sorry guy, you owe us $40K! How does that even happen?

[Blossom]

When I asked him about it, he said that there was a time back in the mid 90's that he switched jobs. When he first got hired on, the employer did not take out child support and there was approximately 6 months that were missed. He remembered that when they did start taking the payments again that the normal amount was taken out plus an additional amount for the arrears.
However, when he spoke with a woman at the CSE, she stated that those months were never paid for and that is what the arrears is based off of. She claimed that interest was tacked on from the missing months and to-date. His monthly amount was $650 for the one child. To my calculations, he would owe $3,900, if it is true that the months were not recovered. I just can't justify the amount they are claiming he now owes, over $45,000!!! I don't understand it and I am at a loss as I haven't a clue what to do.
Also, the last job he did have (the one where the notice was sent), his wages were way lower than the wages he had when the child support was configured. He didn't know that he could have gone back to the courts and ask them to lower it based on his income so he just continued to pay the $650/mo.
I would agree with you that if she was simply trying to get money they would have turned her down but when she moved from one county to another, it became a different court so not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. The notice of fulfillment was sent from the former county and her current county is the that reopened the case. I don't get how someone can go for almost 4 years without hearing a word and then poof, sorry guy, you owe us $40K! How does that even happen?

Has your husband tried to set up an online account with your state's child support system? My husband pays child support in Ohio, and Ohio has a child support customer service website, which he was able to set up an account on. He can log in and see a record of his child support payments, any arrears, information about his most recent child support order, etc. If your husband can do that, maybe it would give him more info about the case than he's getting from the child support agency.

[JSpence]

Hi, thank you for your reply. We've tried to look online to see if there is a way to set something up that way and nothing. I actually inquired myself about that since we live in another state. The woman I spoke with told me that they didn't have anything like that and said that if they did it was probably for persons who owed current support. His is just arrears. Maybe things have changed, I will look into that again. Thanks

[Blossom]

Hi, thank you for your reply. We've tried to look online to see if there is a way to set something up that way and nothing. I actually inquired myself about that since we live in another state. The woman I spoke with told me that they didn't have anything like that and said that if they did it was probably for persons who owed current support. His is just arrears. Maybe things have changed, I will look into that again. Thanks

You're welcome! Have you taken a look at this?

https://jupiter.dss.state.va.us/family/