Filed for State Hearing after CalWORKs wrongly counted my child support as income - anyone win against the county?

Yes! I won a hearing last year when they incorrectly calculated my WTW hours. Your legal aid advocate is 100% correct - child support that's assigned to the county is NOT supposed to count as income for your CalWORKs grant. Make sure you bring: 1. Your assignment of rights paperwork 2. The MPP regulations (ask your advocate for the specific section numbers) 3. Copies of your NOAs showing when they started counting it wrong 4. Any child support payment records you have The hearing itself was intimidating but pretty straightforward. The ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) was actually fair and listened to both sides. The county worker who showed up didn't even understand the regulations correctly. I had my legal aid rep with me and that made ALL the difference.

i had hearing for CalFRESH not calworks but i won. they said i didnt turn in verification but i had proof i uploaded it to benefitscal. bringed my phone with me showing the upload date. judge was nice county person was kinda rude tho. took 3 weeks to get decison in mail.

I've been through two state hearings for CalWORKs issues. Won one, lost one. The one I won was similar to yours - they were incorrectly counting income that should have been exempt. Definitely bring your legal aid advocate with you - they know the regulations better than most county workers. For your specific situation, the regulation you want is MPP 44-111.47, which exempts child support that's been assigned to the county. One tip: if you do the hearing by phone, make sure to mail or fax all your evidence to the State Hearings Division at least 5 days before your hearing date. I made that mistake and the judge couldn't see my documents. Good luck! The fact that you have legal aid helping is a HUGE advantage.

The county HATES being challenged and they make everything so difficult! I had to file a hearing when they wrongly discontinued my benefits during my pregnancy exemption period. I couldn't get ANYONE on the phone for WEEKS to fix it. The most frustrating part was sitting on hold for hours only to be disconnected. I finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a real person at the county in about 10 minutes. They basically wait on hold for you and call you when they get a real person. Saved me from having to keep filing hearing requests for every little thing. There's a video that explains how it works: https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE But definitely go through with your hearing! The county counts on people giving up. My hearing was over the phone and took about 45 minutes. Judge ruled in my favor and I got retroactive benefits.

I WON 2 hearings against LA County!! They REGULARLY make mistakes and count on us not knowing our rights!!! The system is DESIGNED to confuse us so we don't fight back!!! ALWAYS request a hearing if something seems wrong!!!!

I had a somewhat similar situation last year when the county incorrectly calculated my earned income disregard after I started a part-time job. They were taking out way more than they should have from my grant. In my experience, the hearing process was actually better than I expected. I was nervous too! Here's what helped me: 1. I practiced explaining my case clearly beforehand 2. I organized all my documents in order by date 3. I wrote down the main points I wanted to make 4. I stayed calm even when the county representative tried to confuse things The judge ruled in my favor and I received retroactive benefits for the months they calculated incorrectly. The whole process took about 8 weeks from filing to getting the decision letter. Definitely keep your legal aid advocate involved - mine was incredibly helpful in explaining the regulations that supported my case. Good luck!

i had a hearing for cal works and lost becus I didnt bring the right papers. make sure u have EVERYTHING no matter what. they are so picky about every little thing and the county lady kept saying i was wrong about the rules. it was so frustrating!!!

Responding to your question about submitting evidence - definitely send it in advance AND bring copies to the hearing. I submitted mine a week before by fax (and kept the fax confirmation) but also brought physical copies to the hearing. The judge already had all my documents which made things go much smoother. And don't get too intimidated if the county brings a lot of people. In my hearing, they had the eligibility worker AND their supervisor, but the judge was only interested in the facts and regulations, not how many people were on each side.

my sister had this EXACT same problem with child support last year!!! they fixed it at the hearing and she got back payments too. bring all ur paperwork!!!

To answer your question about phone vs. in-person hearings - I did mine by phone and it worked fine. The advantage was I could be in my own home where I felt comfortable. I put the call on speaker and had all my documents spread out on my table where I could see everything. As for timing, I got the decision in about 3 weeks. The regulation says they have to decide within 60 days of your hearing request, but it's usually faster. If they rule in your favor, the county has 30 days to comply and issue any retroactive benefits. One more tip - during the hearing, if you don't understand something the judge or county says, don't be afraid to ask them to explain. The judges are generally patient and want to make sure you understand what's happening.