Florida Department of Revenue
Reviews and Complaints

I am tired of dealing with FDR! They do not care about helping parents receive support for their children! I have been trying to receive support for my child for 13 years now and only gotten a handful of payments through the years! Its not fair to the parents who are actually taking care of the children without the help of the dead beat parent! I plan to hire a lawyer to take action because this has been ridiculous enough! I advice any parent who is having a hard time getting any support through FDR to hire a lawyer to help.

I am a single father...PROBABLY one of few fathers that once seperated from the childs mother was supporting both my child AND THE MOTHER, out of the kindness of my heart because I knew she was unemployed and uneducated. However, after I moved out I had majority custody of my son (about 70/30), was paying $200 per week for his daycare and also helping his mother with her bills until she got on her feet (way more than child support would have been for me).

Thankfully (not that it mattered) I kept my receipts FOR EVERYTHING because even though we had a verbal agreement for support and custody I knew that without proof it didn't happen!

Anyways, my son's mother goes to the county and files for food stamps, medi-caid, cash aid...any type of government assistance she could get (let me also throw in the fact that she is a "legal" immigrant/alien). Anyways, the food stamps office asks her if "the father" is supporting his son. She tells them "yes...and he always has" so they say "well unless you pursue him LEGALLY for child support you will not be entitled to receive food stamps or other benefits"

So, like ANY mother in need would do she says "ok fine, go after him for support". Which worked out for me because them taking it from my check through my employer was a paper trail AND was MUCH less than I was currently paying.

HOWEVER, then they asked her about "back support" and she tells them "yes...he supported the baby AND me while I was not working" and the case worker "BAITED HER" into lying about back support telling her how much money she'll be getting monthly and it'll be like another pay check for her if she files for back support!

So the county CLAIMS to have served me with court case paperwork, which they did not, but I found out that they were charging me THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS in back support! So HELL with that...i take my receipts and march my ### into the child support office and put my folder on the table and they tell me "we WILL NOT look at that, you need an attorney"!

Well, I am NOT a man of high financial means...in fact my current situation is unemployed and BEGGING and BORROWING just to TRY to keep my home and they listened to her without ANY issues when she lied to them to get food stamps and assistance!

Now my son's mother reopened the case for back support and I've since moved from Florida to California. The other morning my new wife hears a man yelling into our home through an open window with closed curtains/blinds to our FOUR YEAR OLD DAUGHTER and he's "serving HER" child support hearing paperwork!

I contact the Florida department of revenue to advise them of this and they say NOTHING back to me...they IGNORE IT and move forward with the court date!

So, finally...I have to attend the court via telephone because they would not observe my motion to change venue and when the judge first tells me "it's your lucky day, we are not swearing anyone in today" and then asks me a question, when I attempt to answer him I hear mumbling and he HANGS UP ON ME!

How am I suppose to prove that if no one was sworn in?

I've NEVER felt so helpless...as a man, as a UNITED STATES MARINE, as a human being...I feel helpless and betrayed by a system that's SUPPOSED to help equally but that is WRONG

The photos are how the court documents were left after advising my FOUR YEAR OLD of the service

I am a retired Navy E-6. The Department of Revenue has entirely too much power! Upon my retirement from the Navy I placed all my paperwork into the Department of Revenue regarding my drastic pay change. I received countless letters they were going to report me to the credit bureau, which they did which only has ruined my security clearance. I have a disability rating of 80% the judge told me to go work but I am extremely limited on what I can do as I take pain killers routinely and other issues associated with the War. The Judge refused to understand that I am limited due to my disabilities. For my (1) son I am ordered to pay over 1200.00 yet half of my retirement is only 700 and change. I now have to pay Medical and Dental out of my share leaving me with about 560.00 + my 1700.00 in disability. The VA takes a long time to make claims and the courts do not care. It is very discouraging because I cannot afford to see my son and the mother is a Nurse that claims she pays her mom 700.00 per month in child care and she only makes 35, 000.00 as a OB/GYN nurse of 10 years. Funny how of all the grandchildren mine is the only one that the grandmother charges...fraud?

My husband applied for and was approved for Medicaid for a long term care facility in Florida. Blue Cross/Blue Shield Federal Govt plan has been, is, and always will be our primary insurance. The coverage is infinitely better than Medicare Part B so we did not sign up for Part B at retirement 10 years ago. We meet our catastrophic outlay every year usually by April or May, so thereafter everything is covered 100%. The only thing this policy does not cover is long term care, therefore the necessity to apply for Medicaid for him. Without his knowledge or permission and completely unknown to either of us. the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) signed him up for Medicare Part B and Part D and began to pay the premiums for him. I received his "new" Medicare card in the mail almost three months after his approval for Medicaid and saw that his enrollment in Part B and D was retroactive to the Medicaid approval date.
All of a sudden our excellent BC/BS which has always been primary now becomes secondary and at this point 200+ claims had already been processed and paid by BC/BS as if it were the primary and only insurance. Providers began submitting claims to Part B and BC/BS began to reprocess claims that had already been paid as if it were the primary insurance. I have received letters from BC/BS asking for money to be returned which I have done or no further claims will be honored. BC/BS is my primary and only insurance. Providers for my husband that now must submit first to Part B are asking for co-pays and a new deductible from me.
He does not need or want Part B. Medicaid allowed a deduction in his countable income for the premiums that we pay for BC/BS.
So this is the result. I am sending money back to BC/BS. I am paying copays and meeting a new deductible. Part B is denying him medical therapy that would be covered under our BC/BS but is not covered as the insurance is necessary. If he did not have Part B, everything would be covered 100%.
Since receiving the "new" Medicare in the mail on 5/28/13, I have conducted a Herculean effort to have him dis-enrolled from Part B. Phone calls, letters, faxes to Medicare, Social Security, DCF. I have submitted the proper Medicare/Social Security forms. I have consulted an attorney, I have emailed the governor of Florida and the Secretary of the Agency for Healthcare Administration. I have contacted high up officials in AHCA. All of this time and time again. Across the board, I am told that he cannot be dis-enrolled as long as the state of Florida is paying the premiums.
We no longer live in Florida. We moved to another state to be closer to family. The Medicaid coverage in Florida is closed. I contacted our local state representative in our new state of residence who has been working diligently to get him dis-enrolled. I was just informed yesterday that Florida has paid the premiums for November and once again, he cannot be dis-enrolled as long as Florida is paying the premiums. After hearing this, I called DCF once again to explain the absurdity of the situation - Medicaid in Florida is closed and we do not even live in Florida - stop paying the premiums. He wants out of Part B. The supervisor that I spoke too informed me that "We are not paying his premiums - he is not enrolled in the Medicare-Buy-In Program." In the middle of the night last night, I called Medicare again begging for help asking who was paying the premiums. I was told that indeed it was Florida DCF who was paying the premiums. It has now been escalated to the Advanced Resolution Center in Medicaid.
He is being denied the medical therapy that he needs. I am paying a lot of extra money in copays when I could be paying $0. The Medicaid coverage in Florida is closed. We do not even live in Florida any more. He is private pay in the state that we live in now and does not need government assistance, yet the state of Florida continues to pay his premiums, but has denied by phone that they are doing so.

I am a single mother that is Disabled. I moved to Fla from Ga September 2011. within a week I turned over my son's child support to Florida. I got a letter from Ga. that they closed the case there 12/23/2011. It is now 10 month's later and I still have not received any child support for my son. I have been to the Florida Department of Revenue's office 4 times and have produced all documents they have requested. Every time I call to check status CSR's tell me the same thing that they are waiting for paperwork from the other office where my son's father resides. When I call the other state they advised me that they have sent all documents requested.
The girls I have talked to at FDRS are always rude and cut you off in the middle of talking. I feel I'm treated like a criminal. I dot understand why it would take 10 months to set up my son's child support and why during such hard times their employees talk to you like your nobody or a bad person and your life means nothing. No matter who I call or write to i cant seem to get any help.

Im at a loss and don't know what else to do.

I called at 4:00 to do my interview with a case worker so my food stamps would not be turned off...When I called and gave my info to the automated system I got a message from a recording saying the wait time is only 1 minute so I wait...and wait.. and wait. I end up waiting an hour and thirty minutes on hold before I finally decide to hang up, because no one would answer the phone. Im not sure if they closed at 5:00 or what but they should have at least let me know or answered the phone. This is rediculous!

i have been receiving child support for my son for 18 years and in those years his father would pay and sometimes wont pay; and when he don't pay it adds up and when he file his taxes i normally gets his taxes. but this year the child support agency have received his taxes in march 28 and i have not received it yet and customer service they just don't help they only know whats in the system and every time i call i get different information, and i have been requesting a call from the orange co. office since February 23 and have been calling the office of revenue child support division in Tallahassee Fla and to much avail all i have been getting is their voice mail and no return phone call.

The Florida Department of Revenue has done nothing to enforce my child support in Osceola County. One father owe's me close to $30, 000 and it continues accumulating, yet he is a free man with a license. My other son's father owes me close to $10, 000 and has not made a payment in over 10 months. I went to the department of revenue on January 5, 2012 to have enforcement on my case. It is now May 2, 2012 and still nothing has been done and I am not receiving any child support from either father. I was told over the phone that they could not hold either parent in contempt because of the lack of man power in their agency. Since Florida can't get the fathers to pay child support, then Florida can pay me food stamps and pay the medical bills. Yet, we wonder why there is so much crime in Florida?! WAKE UP FLORIDA GOVERNMENT!

Why DOESN'T the DOR/CS address inconsistencies in payments made by non-custodial parents? It is court ordered I receive weekly child support payments. Some months I receive 3 out of 4 ordered payments, sometimes 2 of 4 or only 1 of 4, sometimes I receive NO payments. I understand there are guidelines. However, consistency of payments should have better guidelines. To the best of my knowledge, the DOR only addresses a non-custodial parent or their employer if they get "X" amount behind monthly. It seems each month is a new start for the non-custodial parent. As long as a payment or 2 is made during a specific month, nothing is done. In my case, I know for a fact the non-custodial parent is working full time. Should DOR contact his employer about the inconsistent payments? For anyone reading, could you imagine if your employer paid you every now and then? Of course not! It is impossible to budget when you are not paid. And, you fall financially behind. I have visited my local Child Support Office on many occasions and made endless phone calls. There is nothing being done. I get frustrated when I see government agencies provide consistent free services of all kinds. Why isn't there an agency or grant program for child support? An agency that dispersed court ordered child support? Then, the agency can collect from employers or individuals. I bet the guidelines would change then!

I am the non-custodial parent. I pay $1, 083 per month for two children. I am retired military as well (which plays into this complaint).

Went to court January 18th, 2012, for a review because my twins just turned 19 (the hearing that was supposed to occur on their 18th birthday got pushed back for "administrative reasons." I had scheduled time off from my job to attend the first hearing, as I live in PA, but that got rescheduled, so I had to jump through hoops with my work to straighten that mess out.

In this review (which I attended), the support was continued for one twin because he is permanently disabled. No problem there. However, the amount was only lowered to $817 per month, which is $121 ABOVE the threshold for Medicaid and SSI. He has now LOST both of those benefits, although my attorney informed the court that this would happen. Apparently the court doesn't give a damn.

To add insult to injury, and for the second time during the history of this child support nightmare, the court sent the order changing the amount of support not to my employer, but to the office that disburses my Navy retirement check every month. So what does that mean, dear reader? It means that not only will the State of Florida continue to take the $1, 083 from my paycheck every month, they will, in addition to that, take my Navy retirement check as well (and yes, my Navy retirement pay is included in the calculation for the amount I am required to pay for support). As if that wasn't bad enough, the paperwork stated that I appeared by telephone! I WAS SITTING THREE FEET FROM THE JUDGE FOR THE ENTIRE HEARING! HOW COULD THEY NOT NOTICE?!

The sad part is that I am remarried with three children ages 12, 10 and 6 who will suffer the most until this gets straightened out. That process, which I can't start until Monday, will take 2 to 3 months. I am already a month and a half behind on my mortgage payments, so now I'm between a rock and a hard place, facing foreclosure. And it's all thanks to the incompetence and indifference of some pathetic judge, uncaring DOR attorney and a clerk or two who don't know any better.

I'm worried sick that this will all end badly. I wish there was some action I could take against this office and this court system to make things whole for me and to hold their feet to the fire and make them give a ### about the payer as well as the children.

They are doing nothing in the case for my child support. The NCP is now over 44, 000 in debt with child support. I will only state what happened recently. In Febuary we were order into court for contempt. I live in GA and he lives in FL, the order is in FL. I usually don't go to the Attorney Child Support because in the past they have been very active. He did not show up either, so the Judge ordered to have 5, 000 to be paid. Instead of paying he requested another hearing, which the Judge granted to waive the warrant in exchange for 200.00, which he paid in April and then no other payments were made. My thinking is he went into court telling them, his job was slow, the Judge took his word and let him go. As of today no payment has been made. I called child support to request a hearing I was told "even though that you are requesting a court date does not mean you will get it". They have to review the case. What I am most discouraged is NCP is getting away with not paying his child support. He does this every time he is ordered to go to court. Pays enough to get the warrant lifted and then nothing. He works for American Steel Building in Gibsonton, FL, which pays him under the table. When the kids were down in June for the Visitation order which is being followed, seen a check on his table for 4100.00. NCP is now living with his all time friend who loves his liquor, drugs and women. While the kids were in his care, he had a drug dealer over at his house "cutting drugs" as the kids would say. The Department of Revenue has got to be more stern with NCP that are not paying their share. They also need to look at the pattern of payment history, if the payment is not made within 30 days, they need to be put in jail, because I am not getting the support anyways.

In Sept. of 2009 I recieved a statement that Florida was claiming child support from me. My 8 yr old daughter lived with her dad in Hartford AL. In our final judgement of divorce we agreed that no party owed child support this was filed in April of 2007. At the time my ex-husband lived in Alabama recieved Florida benefits all while my daughter was attending school in Alabama; which is illeaga! There was no investigation against him though. I was 8 months pregnant when the child support lawyer told me that I had to pay child support. I lived in Tennessee. Now my daughter lives with me in Tennessee child support garnished $2415 and still claims I owe $3000. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? I have been on the phone with the IRS, Child Support Enforcement, and who ever else I can get a hold of. I am planning to write an article to the major news papers about the CSE and seent a copy of the articles to the Florida State Senate. I want to file a lawsuit against the state. This is wrong I have read so many complaints about CSE, if enough evidence is provided as a group something might be done. I know that as an individual I have contacted many sources to get the ball rolling on this If ANYONE has been WRONGED by the CSE let me know. It will be mentioned in my article to the press.
My name is Melissa Sanders My Email is [protected]@yahoo.com

I am so sick of explaining the situation that I will just give the skim details. I was a hard working person since i was a kid and the economy got the best of me and I needed to get food assistance for my daughter and I. I have been receiving assistance for quite some time now unable to find stable work with income enough to live on. I reapplied in Feb. like i was supposed to, got a phone message in march saying i needed to submit information and to call in and verify how my bills get paid-my father pays the rent and utilities until I can get on my feet. I called- no answer- i left a message explaining and gave my number in case they needed anything else. I got a letter saying i was denied in mid march. I immediately called in and asked why they said i needed to submit information i told them about the previous phone call and they said i needed a new letter from my father stating he pays the bills, I said ok whats the address or fax number? The women then said oh wait it says it can be given verbally since we have a copy on file your good to go. I didnt get any more calls or letters so i assumed i was fine. I went to go shopping on the day the assistance was supposed to be deposited and checked the balance to see it was zero. I called in again and they said the girl who told me i didnt need to submit anything was looking at the wrong year of the letter and I had needed to submit it even though they saw the note saying everything was submitted. I said well can I fax it in and they said I had to reapply because it was past 60 days since I last applied. I was obviously upset since that meant i wasnt going to get any assistance for over 30 days and had to go through all the hoops all over again. I asked why my daughter and i were going to have to suffer since i was misinformed and was more then willing to submit anything because the assistance is very important to me and i needed it which is why i responded so quickly every time. She said it was unfortunate but basically too bad. I had waited on hold for over 20 minutes to get attitude-great. Then i asked to speak to a supervisor and she said there wasnt one there-impossible- and that they would get back to me in 72 hours and said she could give me the number to a charity to help with food for the time being! I called the next day again and that girl said the other girl was right and i had to reapply and i said that was ridiculous and it wasnt my fault and it was wrong i was going through all this and she said and i quote "well you can either reapply or not get assistance" i felt so degraded. Its hard enough to have to ask for help to begin with after working 2 sometimes 3 jobs to try to make ends meat just to be treated like trash. Noone cares they treat you like garbage and its not right. I was in absolutely no fault here i did my part i called and responded when asked but they dont care its just oops our bad sucks for you. Its just wrong I am a fair person if i did something on my part to make it lapse or knowingly not submit something i would understand but they are completely wrong and im so upset that im not going to just let it go i will contact someone every single day until something changes its not right i would understand they just think your trash and your ### and its very upset SOMEONE NEEDS TO HELP and when you want to speak to someone who can do something about it you get a voice mail or a 'promise' to return your call when you dont get a call returned what do i do now? who do i call? who is going to care or listen and DO SOMETHING ?

CSE has been on my case since March...and nothing but delinquency letters have been sent since that date...now over $19, 000 in arrears?! At one point the case was closed, because one of the notices was "stuck in print"...never went out and if I hadn't called, would still be sitting there with my case stopped. One call I was told they filed a motion for contempt, then the next call, they said that was not true, and not only was the third delinquency notice not sent, the second one wasn't sent. I was told after the third delinquency, they would suspend DL...nope...sent another letter, telling him he had to come in for an interview by a certain date (SURPRISE...the guy who was months late on support, was ignoring the delinquency notices...didn't come in for the interview!) When I confronted CSE about the changing status on my reports, turns out that someone elses notes were in my file?! They were reading THEIR status! I spoke with a suprvsr and asked, when I call in the future, how to be sure I'm being given correct info and how this happened and the response was that the case workers are underpaid?! Ridiculous...in the meantime, I gave ALL info to CSE...told them about his licenses and business license...not only were they not suspended, the ex got a tobacco license while owing more than $10, 000 in support (by the way, their SS# is reported for this license specifically to track title IVD (support delinquencies), yet meant nothing...got his license and continues to not pay. I had his drivers license suspended months ago...continues to drive...the enforcement is plain ridiculous