I've written about my sister and my brother-in-law before. Because it's important for family to help family, I'm trying to help my BIL get his life straightened out. Even though my sister died almost 11 months ago rarely does a day goes by that some new injustice she did to her ex-husband (and society in general) does not come to light. Believe me when I tell you I could not make this stuff up.
This is what BIL and I did on Thursday. First off, court. A couple of weeks a go he got a notice that his wages were being garnisheed for past child support. He went to the courthouse one day to get the details (you can't do any of this stuff over the phone and parking is $10 minimum). They didn't have the details, but they did give him a court date. October 30, 2008 8:00 a.m. So he takes a day (without pay) off work and I go with him ('cause it's not like I have a mountain of schoolwork to tackle).
This is what we find out: From November 2006 to July 2007 my sister was collecting welfare in the state of Oregon and Oregon wants BIL to repay it because she claimed he wasn't paying child support. What is wrong with this picture? My sister has never lived in Oregon! She lived in San Diego until March 2007 and in Washington State after that. My nephew lived with his Dad first in San Diego and then in Washington from March 2007 on.
The court's take? Sorry she was committing welfare fraud--that's not our concern. We're just collecting money on Oregon's behalf because they asked us to. No, they have no explanation for how a person could start collecting welfare in another state without ever setting foot in that state. No, the fact that we could prove she was living in San Diego, thereby proving her fraudulent behavior, has no bearing on whether or not she was lying about the child support.
So, 2 hours and $20 in parking later we have an appointment to come back another day with the pertinent payment proof. Which we would have had with us in the first place if the paperwork had provided a single clue about why they were garnisheeing his wages.
The next part of the story is even worse. BIL's latest San Diego Gas & Electric bill had a charge for $4,381 on it. This was a carry over from the house my sister lived in (during the period she was collecting welfare in Oregon). My sister had said BIL lived with her (they were separated and she had a restraining order (more lies) against him during this time. Since they can't get the money from HER (you know, her being dead and all) they want it from him.
Here comes the unbelievable part--SDG&E requires him to prove a negative. The onus is on him to prove that he didn't live at the house. We go to a field office hoping to talk to someone in person. I kid you not, the customer service center is a desk with a phone on it. It turns out that it is IMPOSSIBLE to meet face-to-face with a representative. It is against company policy.
I talk to the bitchiest collections person on the face of the earth about what proof we need. We discuss that he could not have lived at the property because he would have been arrested if he went near the property due to the restraining order. She says all SDG&E requires in order to add someone to the contract is the word of the person signing up for service. THAT'S RIGHT! I CAN PICK A NAME OUT OF THE PHONEBOOK, CALL SDG&E & TELL THEM THEY LIVE AT MY HOUSE AND THEY ARE NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR MY BILL! I get a fax number and we fax the lease for the place he was living from 9/06-6/06 along with a letter from the landlord stating that he moved out in June '06. I call back. She says it's not good enough, because anyone could write a letter (it's on official letterhead from the property management company) and now she wants a copy of the restraining order.
I come this close to losing it. No, I tell her, we will not be spending 3 hours pawing through boxes with documents from an extremely painful period of my BIL's life to satisfy her need to pettily abuse her power. She has what she needs and it had better be enough. Call the property manager if you must, but we are done jumping through hoops to satisfy her.
There must be something in my tone that alerts her to who she is dealing with. The charge is removed within an hour. This is not over yet though. After sending a complaint letter to the company and calling a friend who is an executive with SDG & E, I will trying to interest our local paper in doing a story on this. There is no wrath like that of the righteously indignant and right now that wrath is mine!
BTW, you may have been wondering how someone could run up a bill that high in 6 months. She must have been really trying--we pay about $2,000 a year for a family of 5. There were 3 people living in that house. Argh!
