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Sumter Court Said Woman Owed $0.63 in Child Support | wltx.com One minute away from a jail term.
A Sumter County woman was summoned to court for a child support payment less than a dollar, due to the Sumter County Family Court’s shift to a new computerized system.
Sumter County Family Court officials began clearing out the old system. They found a woman who owed less than a dollar, and her case almost made its way to court. For 45-year-old Kathleen Threatt, the trouble began with a simple trip to her mailbox. Signed, sealed and delivered by a deputy to her Wedgefield home was an affidavit from Family Court saying she owed $0.63 in child support.
“I had to apologize to the officer on the phone because I was laughing so hard,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Threatt called the court thinking it was a misunderstanding, because not only are her children no longer children, but she’s also a grandmother by both of them. She even remembers receiving a letter at the conclusion of her child support duties saying she had paid in full. Somehow, some small change slipped through the cracks and resurfaced nearly 12 years past its due date.
“My problem is the waste of resources,” she said. “This is crazy.”
“It’s a waste, but that’s part of what we do, unfortunately,” said Sumter County Clerk of Court Jamie Campbell. “We don’t have the authority to wipe it away.”
I love the line that it’s a waste but that’s what we do! Cripes!
Found by Aric Mackey.
F’ing bureacrats. Now, how much effort did they put into chasing down the mopes who owed thousands of dollars who they did not send letters to that still owed the money.
I would have whipped out a buck to any of those stupid county officials and told those stupid SOB’s to “KEEP THE CHANGE.” I really hate government officials who hide behind POLICY.
The effort spent to send her the first letter was more than she supposedly owed.
OMG, as my daughter would say.
Don
Yep, give someone “discretion” and then next year complain when they let this person off on .63 cents and someone next year off on $50.00 and then the charge will be “playing politics” when you don’t let some bushleague politican get off on $5000.00. Just ask Tom Delay.
It they owe less than than postage it will cost to tell them, then let it slide.
Gee, now there’s a woman with bad luck. I didn’t think any women except Britney Spears ever had to pay child support.
The letter was computer generated. An actual person didn’t know about this until the letter was opened.
This is also a Court Judgment. Only a Judge has the authority to change or modify the order.
“I am sorry but we have to waste your money. It’s what we do.”
O RLY?
Throw The Bums Out
A couple of years ago, I owed the Feds $1 in taxes on April 15. Yes, really. $1.
I paid with Visa. They probably only got $0.90 😛
Sounds like the time I owed $0.11 on a final gas bill. The gas company spent $1.00 to mail me the notice saying they were going to send it to a collection agency if I didn’t pay up within 14 days.
I once got a one cent Visa bill. I paid with a 3-cent check, and stopped using the card. Every month, for about 10 years, I would get a notice telling me about my 2-cent credit. A few years ago someone from the bank called one day and asked if there was anything they could do to improve my experience with the bank. I mentioned the 2-cent credit and the fact that they seem to trust their computers more than common sense.
The letters finally stopped when I closed the accounts about a year ago and took my check for $5.32 ($5 minimum account deposit, 2 cent Visa credit, about 30 cents in interest.)
#7 and #8
$1.32 was the amount I owed in taxes once.
I received 3 letters and 3 phone calls, all had very threatening overtones. ( loss of credit rating yada yada yada)
The final phone call was a fellow threatening to garnishee my wages, complete with snide attitude in a loud voice.
When I asked how much I owed he very officiously said “One minute while I check.”
I then heard a very quiet timid reply “Uh Sir You uh owe $1.32.”
You gotta love bureaucratic arrogance. He’d obviously not even known the amount before trying to browbeat me.
I paid by check to keep a record and now have it framed on my wall.
This is really less a story about politics and more a story about computers…we’re still not there yet. Wouldn’t I love to know what “new” computerized system they are using…