Jeff Milton 75 East 4th Street, Apt 3A NYC, NY 10003 jm@waena.edu (917) 533-5847 Last updated: Nov 13, 2005 A father's desperate and final plea This entire document is available online at http://www.waena.edu/fathersfight/html/my_case.html I am in desperate need of legal aid, as much as NY State is in desperate need of Family Court reform. If you are receiving this letter, it is because I am hoping you can help with legal advice, exposure or to simply make you aware of the plight of thousands of fathers who are suffering from the draconian ways of this most unjust system. Lives are ruined, both the fathers and the children's. Families are destroyed. Civil rights annihilated. I could not have believed such systemic blind persecution and prejudice could exist in this country without having experienced it first hand. It is even harder to believe that nothing is being done about it by politicians or lawyers. The Problem I have been paying Ulster County Child Support (UCCS) on time for over 5 years, yet New York Family Court/Child Support has taken all my money, closed all my financial accounts, suspended my license, threatened to throw me jail, denied me due process, destroyed my credit, harassed me, blatantly lied to me and threatened me. I have actually received phone calls from Ms. T. of UCCS asking me to give more money than the court ordered (which was already 19% above standard) or face the threat of being dragged back into court, where, she assured me, they would win. They have condoned perjury and abuse on my ex's part and gross incompetence on the part of the public defender. They have used privileged information between my lawyer and myself against me and denied my objection based on not only his violation of privilege, but that his damaging statement was incorrect. They have punished me for not moving 3,000 miles away to get a job, forcing me to abandon my children. Child Welfare has ignored my complaints. My petitions are scheduled up to four months ahead, while Patricia's are scheduled three weeks ahead. UCCS (Ms. T.) has told me they do not need to recognize any court order of agreement between my ex and myself, and they will continue to take everything I own until I am homeless and destitute. I am not asking to get out of my payments. I am only asking for fair and impartial treatment. Specifically... The Ulster Country Child Support Department recognizes the thousands of dollars of real estate and property I gave my ex in an act of good will after we separated, even if they don't receive any federal 'incentives' for it. Although I signed over my ownership to avoid a foreclosure (I was lead to believe by Patricia and her relatives), it is becoming clear that I was naive and the threat to my children was used as a ploy to conspire to get ownership of the property. Unless justified otherwise, fair monthly support money will be sent to the children directly without going through any child support department. Prior to my ex's demand that I pay through the state I had not been late with a single payment. She was pushed by Child Support to do this, perhaps for no other reason then for them to realize more federal 'incentives'. Once I started paying the state, the check were late and the state submitted damaging credit reports against me for checks they were late in processing. The Ulster Country Child Support Department repairs the damage it caused to my credit. The Ulster Country Child Support Department considers unemployment to be a valid reason for downward modification of $5,000/mo payments AND they can not punish me for not moving away from my children to find work. In other words, they should act like they are considering what's in the best interest of the children, and not just say it to justify their current practices. The Ulster Country Child Support Department reimburses or credits me for the hundreds of dollars in bank penalties as a direct consequence of closing by business (and only) account. I have a court order that details how I am to pay off the back debt and I am in complete compliance with that order. Since there is a court order in effect it is unreasonable for the state to seize all me assets. The Ulster Country Child Support Department allow me to request an accounting of how the Child Support money is being spent (because it is not being spent on the children) The morning of December 8th, 2005, I go before a Family Court Support Magistrate for a violation of a child support order because after all my money was taken I had none to send. By the afternoon there is a good chance I will be in Debtors Prison. I have been threatened with incarceration before by Family Court for the crime of being unemployed, not for not paying support. I do not want to be or deserve to be thrown in jail, but if I am, I will not cede. I will not allow this tyranny to continue. They have taken everything I had to loose, and if I am jailed, my children, who are being held hostage by their mother and the courts as they survive on my CS payments, will also loose. I will go to jail as a proud protester and join the ranks of Danial Chang, John Murtari, and other Father's Right activists who have suffered the most egregious abuse of civil rights since the advent of slavery. The Cast of Characters Jeff Milton: The respondent/defendant, me. Resides in New York City Patricia N.: The petitioner, my ex-wife. Resides in Ulster Country with out three children John Beisel: The Ulster County child support hearing examiner Douglas W.: Ulster County Public defender, who 'defense' was used against me by the judge Ms. T.: Ulster Country child support collection unit worker who threatened me with personal phone calls wanting more money above and beyond the court order Marianne Mizel: Ulster Country Custody judge Colette V.: Patricia's attorney, and District Attorney (I'm told) who lied through her teeth to me on more then one occasion Below is a brief historical account. It does not include many instances of state sanctioned harassment, threats, incompetence, rights abuse, physical abuse, favoritism, sexism, prejudice and perjury (not mine). Historical Account My wife (Patricia) and I separated about 6 years ago. At that time we had three children, ages 7, 9 and 10. I earned $130,000 that year, and only that year. During the course of our 25 year marriage my income averaged approximately $35,000/yr, which is what one might expect from someone like myself who never graduated high school. But for two brief years during the DotCom boom I did earn that. When we separated, the family court magistrate concluded that because I made that much money that year, this was my earning potential regardless of any other economic or market variables. In order to bolster her case (at the suggestion of her new attorney) Patricia filed for an order of protection based completely on perjured testimony. The case was dismissed due to lack of evidence, but I was denied visitation for many months as a result. Based on my income for that year, according to the Child Support Standards Chart for New York State, I would have to pay approx. $34,000 a year in child support. Even tough that was a lot of money, I was even more concerned that my ex and the children would have a hard time adjusting to a new life, so I made an agreement with her Lawyer to pay $53,136 a year1 ($19,000 above the Standard), but for only two years, at which point it would drop to the Standard amount. At least that is was I lead to believe by Patricia's lawyer, Colette V., who was also the District Attorney (I was told) for that same court system. Specifically, she told me “You can change this agreement whenever you like”. OK, I was stupid for believing her, but I was new at this and thought I was doing the right thing... and she was really good at deceiving me... I was no match2. I did not have a lawyer. I could not afford a lawyer because I was giving all my money to Patricia... money she used to hire a lawyer! And I was not eligible for legal aid as I made too much money, even though after 40% taxes and 50% CS I was taking home around 10% of my paycheck. 3 When I learned that I had been duped, and that the $4,500 payments could not be changed (barring a change in circumstance, which also turns out to be a lie) I filed an objection. Unfortunately, being new at all this, I was 75 days past the 30 day limit. The objection was denied.4 While I was employed I continued to pay the child support and maintenance. Then I was laid off... as were thousands of others who worked in the Internet industry. Having zero savings, I could not continue to pay $4,500/mo. I applied for unemployment and a downward modification of CS due to 'change in circumstance' 5. Weeks went by and still no check arrived. When I called unemployment they informed me that I had been receiving checks for four weeks already, but that they had been garnishing 100% of my unemployment check and sending it to the state. In addition my arrears were building up at a rate of $700/wk. I was assigned a court hearing date of Sept. 12, months away. The events of 9/11 were traumatic, especially if you lived 25 blocks from the World Trade Center and behind the armed military blockade that was immediately set up. I requested an adjournment via fax, as I was instructed to do. There was never a reply. Through great difficulty and expense I managed to arrive at the courthouse 120 miles away, where I was informed that my hearing had indeed been canceled. When I asked why I was not informed, they told me they don't make phone calls, they only mail. So my hearing was reschedule. After 5 months from when I became unemployed I was before a judge asking for downward modification. The whole time 100% of my unemployment check was being garnished. The judge did not consider the thousands of resumes I had sent out, the dozens of rejection letters I produced, the dramatic downturn in the Internet industry. My incomprehensibly incompetent public defender made my case even worse when he misquoted me to the judge stating I had a job offer in California. What I had said to him in private was that I had a job interview in California, but would not consider it as it would take me away from my children. Knowing how slow the courts take to act, I waited months for a judgment. Finally, complaining to my assigned lawyer I discovered that a judgment HAD been issued... months earlier! I immediately submitted an objection to the denial for relief, but was told I had exceeded the time period for objections. When I complained that the court never sent me any judgment, they told me they were only required to send it to my lawyer... and if the lawyer make a mistake it is not the courts fault. Nevertheless, I submitted two objections, both denied6 7,, , both ignored. I was now officially a ‘dead-beat dad’ because I owed Patricia $15,541 in back child support, and was summoned to court on July 20, 20048. As a show of good will, I signed over my half of the house to her so she could move it into her fathers name. I was lead to believe she would exonerate me from this debt, but, she did not (again, I was stupid). My request was denied9 on the grounds that I was not willing to move 3,000 miles away from my children and I had a comedy website (http://angrybaldmengonewild.com) that COULD bring in income. (Unfortunately, the court did not explain HOW I could bring in this money from a website that charged nothing and sold nothing.) because I made a website advertising my consulting services the court concluded I was not committed to getting a steady job. because I only looked for jobs in my area of expertise I was limiting my ability to find other work. How they expected me to earn enough money to pay $4,500/mo in a field I had no experience in remains a mystery. In addition, because I had agreed to pay for health costs and provide health insurance, but did not spell out in detail that Patricia was required to use doctors that a) accepted insurance, and, b) under my coverage, I was sued for health care expenses of $1,353 to cover the costs of homeopaths, chiropractors and doctors that were not in my health insurance plan, and was ordered to purchase health insurance that Patricia approved of. I objected. The objection was denied10. I paid in full. (Meizel's later decision stated that I was obligated to provide insurance in Saugerties, regardless of what my company provided - which was health care providers 40 minutes away - which meant the courts expected me to spend an additional $1,200/mo for independent health care for the children because their mother did not want to drive 40 minutes) Given the support amount I owed weekly combined with taxes, I would have had to make over $73,000 a year for her to get the same amount of money as she was receiving from my unemployment. I could not find a job over $73,000, so I opted to remain on unemployment for the benefit of her and the children. All this while I kept certifying my unemployment claims, but as I received nothing from the state as it all went to Patricia, I was not aware of the fact that the unemployment checks had stopped coming. I was informed by Patricia two months later that the checks had stopped coming. I immediately wrote to the unemployment office. I received to reply. I called the unemployment office, and was told my account had been closed... yet I was able to still certify my claims over the Internet? The person I spoke to could not account for this, but did not think it was that odd. Because of the above evidence combined with the lack of checks I was threatened with jail if I did not find a job, but ultimately found not to be willfully negligent. I objected. My objection was denied [see 11 for Judge Meizel's elaboration on decisions of objections] Being a “dead-beat dad”, the state suspended my license and froze all my assets except for my bank account (various stock and investment accounts which had been emptied years before by Patricia and myself). I was now unable to see my children. The entire summer I was unable to see my children12. I objected13 on the grounds that suspending my license made it even more difficult to find work and that it denied me the court appointed right to see my children(especially as the court determined that I must drive to them14) The judge warned me that if I did not find a job I would be put in jail. I borrowed some money from a friend and took a course in legal proofreading. I decided to work for a law firm specifically to have access to legal research that I was sure I would be needing in the court battles that would soon follow, and being 'pro se' I had better learn something about the law. I got a job at Debevoise & Plimpton for $50,000 a year as a legal temp, one of the largest law firms in New York. I petitioned for modification15. I filed an objection to the License Suspension16 Upon learning that I was working for Debevoise & Plimpton, the magistrate returned my license and modified my payments17. Since that time I have complied 100% with the order. Four months ago I became unemployed again, and the state has been taking their money from my unemployment check (leaving me $45/wk) On October 17, 2005 my bank account was 'restrained' leaving me with a -$46,628.61 balance (and hundreds of dollars in finance fees).18 I sent a copy of the existing order with an objection19 to Magistrate Beisel, UCCS and my attorney, Douglas W.. None of them have yet to reply. I also called Child Support Collection (Ms T.), and she assured me they could and would come after anything I owned regardless of any court order, and that it is their practice to double the amount owed. On December 8th, 2005, I appear in Family Court in Kingston, NY. 1 [D-20.4, Oct 11, 2001] $1,505 for the mortgage, $300 for equity loan, $1,785 for child support, $838 for maintenance, plus maintain all health insurance and cover 20% of any medical expenses not covered by insurance 2[D-90.11, July 14, 2004] I later sent a complaint of ethics violations to committee on Professional Standards. There was never a reply and no action was taken to the best of my knowledge. 3I was to received all tax benefits, but Patricia illegally kept all tax refunds and deposited them into her account, which the back temporarily froze when I pointed out the checks were missing my required signature. The account eventually unfroze and Patricia received all the money. [D-20.16 attachment] 4[D-20.16, July 15, 2004] 5[D-20.16, Sept 11, 2003] 6[D-20.18, Jul 15, 2004] 7[D-20.17, Jul 21, 2004] 8[D-20.19, Jul 20, 2004] 9[D-20.14, Mar 3, 2004] 10[D-20.13, Mar 30 2004] 11[D-20.31, Sep 24, 2004] 12 For me to see my children I need to take a bus every other Friday Evening from New York to Woodstock, where my car is parked, pick up the children and drive them to the city. On Sunday afternoon I drive them back, park my car and take the back back to the city. It's a 12 hour, 440 mile, commute that costs $100. 13[D-20.27, Jul 23, 2004] 14[D-40.3/4, Mar 7.2002] 15[D-20.28, Aug, 2004] 16[D-20.27 & *A, July 19, 2004 17[D20.30,Oct 8, 2004] $268 child support, $62 maintenance, $20 paydown debt 18[D-20.33, Oct 17, 2005] 19[D-20.34, Oct 21, 2005]