”Everything stated in my divorce decree did not happen,” says Pam Bacci, a suburban mother of three, whose divorce was finalized in 1981. Bacci, who quit college to marry, had worked and sent her husband through medical school. The year they separated, income from his practice was about $214,000. She hadn`t worked in seven years and had three small children.
Here is a synopsis of her 11-year effort to obtain the child support due her children, which now amounts to an estimated $128,000:
September 1979: Separated.
June 5, 1980: Order for temporary support. Ex-husband is to pay the mortgage and $700 a month for child support.
April 3, 1981: Divorce granted. Ex-husband is to pay $1,350 a month, provide medical and life insurance for children of about $300,000. He also is to hold her harmless for any state or federal tax problems, which were already developing.
June 1981: Child-support checks start bouncing.
August 1981: Another child-support check bounces.
October 1981: She receives notice of liens on house due to ex-husband`s credi problems.
Dec. 28, 1981: Her attorney contacts his attorney about the liens. No child support coming in.
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Jan. 13, 1982: Judge orders ex-usband to make payments by the 10th of each month. Nothing happens.
September 1982: Bacci rents out house and moves in with a relative.
Nov. 1, 1982: Suppport check of $1,350 for that month bounces. Attorneys agree that a new check will be issued in December for two months` child support.
December 1982: Check for two months` child support arrives-and bounces.
Jan. 26, 1983: Bacci tells county state`s attorney she is not receiving child support.
February 1983: Rule to show cause for non-payment of support for October, November, December and January issued against ex-husband.
March 1983: Bacci receives a $500 check for partial payment of support.
August 1983: Bacci has her attorney write ex-husband about cleaning up liens on house so she can sell it. No response to letter.
Nov. 7, 1983: Ex-husband ordered to turn himself in to the county sheriff for failure to pay. He does not; sheriff`s office cannot find him.
Dec. 8, 1983: Another order issued to arrest ex-husband. Nothing happens.
February 1984: Ex-husband has disappeared.
May 1984: IRS contacts buyers of ex-husband`s practice, looking for him.
June 1984: Bacci receives a bill from a collection agency seeking money for unpaid bill for her son`s appendectomy. Medical insurance has lapsed because ex-husband has not paid premiums, so she must pay the bill.
July 1984: IRS says they can`t find her ex-husband; they want money owed from taxes filed jointly, even though divorce decree stated he was responsible for those taxes.
August 1984: Bacci exonerated from IRS claims through an innocent-spouse law.
Dec. 10, 1984: She hires an attorney and private investigator in Florida to locate ex-husband.
May 1985: Ex-husband found in Florida, but he moves two days before PI finds his house. Bacci gets bill for PI and Florida attorney.
June 11, 1985: Court orders ex-husband to pay $21,500 of the $49,000 now in arrears. He claims he has no more money to pay the rest, so support is adjusted to 32 percent of his income. But no more child-support checks follow. December 1985: A ”body attachment” order issued against ex-husband for non-compliance with child-support order of previous June, but sheriff`s office can not locate him. Disheartened, Bacci gives up her search.
June 1988: Bacci hears a public-service announcement on radio about how state is cracking down on fathers not paying child support. Decides to try her search again.
Aug. 29, 1988: Public Aid Office of Child Support Enforcement processes her forms, in which she had to state how much she was seeking-although already available from court records-as well as her income.
December 1988: IRS intervenes because of money ex-husband owes them. IRS freezes all her assets, since they cannot find him. She hires a tax lawyer on a contingency basis, since she has no access to money, even for Christmas presents. Also, ex-husband is ordered to make current his child-support payments. Order is ignored.
May 1989: Court date set for hearing on nonpayment but ex-husband cannot be located.
Oct. 10, 1989: An assistant state`s attorney estimates ex-husband is more than $100,000 in arrears.
Nov. 22, 1989: Attorney for ex-husband appears in court with his financial records. A continuance date for a deposition is set for Jan. 24, 1990.
Jan. 24, 1990: Deposition is changed to Feb. 8.
Feb. 8, 1990: Deposition is canceled.
March 5, 1990: Bacci receives $450 from State of Illinois for balance
(after court costs) of bail bond forfeited by ex-husband.
March 13, 1990: Bacci learns that IRS has found her ex-husband and has a March 16 federal-court date with him.
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March 16, 1990: Bacci`s attorney goes to federal court to try to stop her ex-husband from going to jail on tax charges because it will only delay further any chance of child-support payments if he is not working. Attorney is told to return March 23.
March 23, 1990: Federal judge tells her attorney that child-support orders in civil court is out of his jurisdiction. He sentences her ex-husband to six months in jail and five years probation for failure to file income-tax returns.
June 6, 1990: Her ex-husband is put on a work-release program.
June 26, 1991: Petition is set to seek child support again.
July 1991: Bacci learns ex-husband is working and salaried, so his wages can be garnished for child-support payments.
Aug. 2, 1991: Court date is set, but ex-husband does not appear.
Aug. 13, 1991: Ex-husband is served with papers advising him that next court date is Sept. 20.
Sept. 20, 1991: Ex-husband does not appear.
Sept. 27, 1991: Ex-husband again does not appear. A default order already is in place, and $1,600 a month in payments are ordered to be immediately garnished from his paycheck.
Nov. 15, 1991: Bacci goes to court and learns ex-husband wants to reduce the amount of payment. A court date for February 1992 is set to settle the arrearage of more than $128,000.
Jan. 2, 1992: Bacci receives a check for $504. It is not the full amount ordered, but the check does not bounce. Since mid-1985, ex-husband has paid her an estimated 40 cents a day for the children. Whether the $128,000 he owes for the last 11 years will ever be paid has yet to be determined.