ABLE OF C ONTENTS

Child Care Legal Issues

WHEN PARENTS OWE YOU MONEY

Revised July 1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1

Common Causes of Payment Problems

2

The Importance of Having a

Parent-Provider Contract

3

Recovering Money Owed to You

5

the demand letter

5

bounced checks

7

ignored demand letter

8

pre-trial checklist

11

Small Claims Court

12

information on small claims court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

preparing to file

12

filing the suit

13

serving the claim

14

appearing in court

15

evidence

15

witnesses

16

presenting your case

17

the decision

19

appeal rights

18

collecting your judgment

19

post-trial checklist

21

How to Avoid Future Payment Problems

22

APPENDIX

Appendix A: Sample Demand Letter

i

Appendix B: Demand Letter for Bounced Check/Stop

Payment

ii

Appendix C: Sample Payment Record

iii

Appendix D: Publications List

iv

INTRODUCTION

In 1986, Public Counsel created the Child Care Law Project (CCLP) to increase the supply of child care facilities in the County of Los Angeles and to assist existing facilities with legal issues confronting them. Since that time, CCLP has provided free legal assistance to thousands of licensed family child care providers and nonprofit child care centers on a host of issues including licensing, insurance, landlord/tenant matters and payment problems, to name a few. Many more have benefitted from CCLP's research, publications, presentations and advocacy on child care-related matters.

One of the most common legal problems faced by providers -- family child care and child care centers alike -- is nonpayment by parents for child care services rendered. Providers who find themselves in this situation need to know both what they can do to try to recover the money owed them, and what steps they can take to reduce the chances of this happening again in the future.

The purpose of this pamphlet is to give the professional child care community the tools necessary to actively pursue recovery of monies due. This pamphlet covers demand letters, the small claims court process, preparation of your case and enforcement of the judgment. Also included is advice on how to avoid future payment problems.

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COMMON CAUSES OF

PAYMENT PROBLEMS

There are four primary ways in which you can find yourself owed money for child care services already provided:

1) You do not require that parents pay you in advance for the week or month to come. If you are currently accepting payment after care has already been provided, the Child Care Law Project strongly recommends that you change your policy, since this is the first step toward protecting yourself in the future;

2) You have been paid with a check that subsequently bounced. This often occurs with new parents with whom you do not yet have an established credit history;

3) You have been lenient with parents who say they are experiencing some temporary financial trouble and who promise to pay all they owe at a future time ("I'll make it up next week/ month"); or

4) A parent has suddenly withdrawn his child from your care without providing you with the notice you require, and is refusing to pay the fee or tuition for that notice period.

These are all examples of contractual disputes, whether or not you currently use a written admission or parent-provider agreement. The law will enforce oral contracts as well as written contracts, so long as there is sufficient evidence of what the parties agreed to. Therefore, if all of your attempts to collect money owed have failed, you may still be able to recover the money in court.

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