ANGELA’S STORY
Angela* is 65 years old. She speaks only Spanish. When her long-term marriage ended in divorce a few years ago, the court ordered her ex-husband to pay Angela monthly spousal support. The support is Angela’s sole income and she relies on that monthly check to survive. She first came to LevittQuinn in 2015 when her ex-husband stopped paying the court-ordered support. We helped Angela get an order from the court directing the ex-husband’s employer to send the money directly to Angela each month.
A year and a half later Angela returned. This time it was the employer who was not sending Angela the full amount of spousal support each month. Angela was meticulous and kept a copy of every check she received. She tried for months to handle the problem herself through her ex-husband’s employer, but she was getting nowhere. The payroll person would either fail to return her phone calls or gave Angela explanations that did not account for the discrepancy in the pay records.
LevittQuinn attorney Elvia Cruz prepared a letter to the employer on Angela’s behalf asking for an explanation of the discrepancy. The employer responded that the problem was with Angela, who did not understand how their payroll system worked and that she was not owed any arrears. Sensing a problem, Elvia scheduled another appointment with the client and reviewed all her documentation of support received for the prior year. Elvia conducted an accounting of those records and discovered that the ex-husband’s employer was garnishing less than the court-ordered amount for past months. Where the client thought there was solely one month of arrears, Elvia discovered Angela was owed close to two months of past due support. Elvia sent the detailed accounting to the employer requesting that they follow the court order and garnish the full amount owed to Angela immediately. Within a month, Angela reported that she received a check for the full amount due her.
Angela was elated to have such a critical issue resolved and was grateful that LevittQuinn was there for her when she most needed us.