COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Jennifer Young digs into a late breakfast of chicken enchiladas, her son, Cole, 8, by her side.
She urges him to eat his chocolate pancakes and apple sauce.
The two are used to sharing meals - just them, with no father or husband.
Young's seemingly storybook relationship with Cole's father, a wealthy developer, ended more than seven years ago, only to be followed by bitter and lengthy legal battles that continue today.
Now Young, 36, is going down a path she never imagined.
"I thought by now I would be happily married, raising two kids, maybe working at an art gallery."
As she said this, Young places her business card next to her bright-pink Blackberry.
"Most Wanted Deadbeats," the card said. She is founder and CEO.
"I never thought I'd end up being this girl."
Love gone bad
Love did it.
Love, Young said, is what transformed a conservative Mormon, raised in Irvine, Calif., and active in the church, into a crusader in the often nasty arena of divorce and child-support.
In 1997, Young was 24 and working in a Laguna Beach, Calif., art gallery when she met Steve Rebeil, then 35.
He was a Las Vegas homebuilder with a house in Newport Beach, Calif., and he'd wandered into the gallery to kill time. She handed him her business card and, a few days later, he contacted her.
They started dating. They fell in love. They lived a good life.
Three years later, Young said, love turned ugly. Pregnant with Rebeil's child, Young said she discovered that he was married and had three children.
She broke off with Rebeil and filed a lawsuit, alleging that he broke a promise to marry her and take care of their child.
The case was settled in December 2002, with Rebeil agreeing to pay child support of $4,000 a month. Two years later, when Rebeil filed a request to lower his payment, a judge denied his request and, instead, more than doubled the amount he was supposed to pay.
Then things turned even uglier.
Rebeil, Young said, wasn't paying child support. And, frustrated that the court-ordered payment wasn't being enforced, she took her battle to the court of public opinion - the Internet.
Young launched a website, www.steverebeil.com, describing him as a father dodging child support. Rebeil was outraged, and sued Young to get her to take down the site. He lost.
But publicity about Young's legal drama changed her life. She was a name, of sorts, and women (and some men) sought her advice on how to get former spouses or boyfriends to pay what courts had ordered them to pay.
Back to court
By 2007, Young was representing herself in family court. At one point, Rebeil's attorney watched as Young arrived in court with documents filed inside her son's Spiderman backpack.
That case ended in January 2008, when Rebeil was ordered to pay back child support of more than $205,000. The court also ordered him to pay monthly child support of $8,500, citing his monthly income of $326,754.
Young insists her crusade to get Rebeil to support their son isn't mean-spirited - and not aimed at enriching herself. The $8,500 a month translates to $102,000 a year. And, she said, getting the money consistently hasn't been easy.
"I have invested the majority of my child support into my son's private education," said Young, who lives with Cole in a Costa Mesa, Calif., duplex. "I am not a shopper or big spender. I make damn sure that I live and spend modestly."
New website
When she hands out her business card, Young gets various reactions. A friend called her a cross between Erin Brockovich and a bounty hunter. Others haven't been so flattering, making her out to be some sort of gold-digging vigilante.
That's the mix of reactions you get when you do launch a website called www.mostwanteddeadbeats.com.
Modeled after TV's "America's Most Wanted," members will be allowed to post profiles of alleged "deadbeats" that Young verifies through court orders.
She said she doesn't want to expose parents who can't pay because they are poor or in prison. Rather, she said, she's going after parents who have the money, but choose to ignore their legal obligation.
More than anything, Young wants her website to be useful. It launched this week, with sample profiles in place of real ones until members start signing up.
Members receive automatic alerts when a tip is submitted by the public that may contain information to help them enforce child-support orders.
"There are a lot of government-run websites out there, but they are typically confusing," Young said. "And they're not easy for the average (nonlawyer) person to understand."
Young's site, which features free and "premium membership" options (up to $30 a year) also allows users to interact with other members, receive advice from lawyers and other experts, and download state child-support forms.
"I designed it so parents can empower themselves, educate themselves and get some realistic expectations about (payments)," Young said.
Collecting child-support money is a 50/50 deal. According to the California Department of Child Support Services, only about half the money owed in child support is collected.
Orange County does a little better than the state average, at a 54.6-percent collection rate, for the roughly $105 million in unpaid support. Nationwide, unpaid child support is estimated at more than $100 billion.
With an upcoming appearance on "Dr. Phil" and a book deal in the works, Young believes Most Wanted Deadbeats has a chance of making it on the national radar.
"If parents learn how to take charge of their cases instead of expecting miracles from others, then they could be helping their children much quicker," she said.
"I think karma is at work here," she said. "People can be vindictive and sour and it can hurt you like a flesh wound. But really, their anger and jealousy only ends up eating up the joy in their own lives."
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Comment Title: Thank You!
Thank you Jennifer for telling your story. I have been looking all over the Web to find a story realative to mine and find ways of exposing my Ex. I'm heading to your site now. BTW - Don't listen to privatesicansee says. It seems some people just don't get it. IT'S ABOUT THE CHILDREN, NOT THE CUSTODIAL PARENTS GREED TO GET AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE OUT OF THE NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT. It's very hard to have to say NO all the time to your children.
Posted by: On: 7/7/2009
Comment Title: What a Deadbeat!!
There are many men who cheat and mislead women but this takes the cake! Obviously a young girl who was taken advantage of by a man who has ill moral character. This is a genius idea. Sounds like a responsible and deicated mother. She has taken a very bad situation and used it to help other people. How courageous, well done!
Posted by: On: 6/15/2009
Comment Title: privatesicansee
dear ms or mrs young, when was it when you discovered that your boyfriend was married with 3 kids? don't let the child suffer from your shallowness. if you are too stupid to do any research on this person BEFORE you slept with him, then it's your own fault. don't try to label people because of your stupidity. (and don't blame love as an excuse either) i think that you are missing the most important piece of this puzzle. the father. are you going to let your son suffer because of your stupidity??? if you were a man i would tell you to step up.... not for the so called 'deadbeat' father but for yourself. quit whining and take care of your son that you had with out being married. you're a mormon too so what were you thinking??? is it OK to have pre-marital sex with your so called 'mormom' religion??
Posted by: Private On: 6/14/2009
Comment Title: Child Support BS
The states&countys get a cut,so called "processing fee".If you add the BS fee's up they come to well over $600 plus!This so called fee could be sent to the mother as well.DSS claims to help families but,they keep money to "pay back"the account if you have afdc or medicaid.Just yet another lie/BS the state tells to justify what they do!
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