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Steven Ortiz
A father who says he has spent nine years asking Family Court to enforce his parental rights — and who says he has been jailed over a support order he has never been allowed to challenge.
DUE PROCESSCHILD SUPPORTCIVIL CONTEMPTPARENTAL RIGHTSSERVICENOTICEJURISDICTION
Photographs supplied by the family have not yet been added to this profile.Documentation requested
FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT
Firsthand Account
In his own words
Published exactly as supplied. Not edited, corrected, shortened or paraphrased. Steven asked that the six opening points appear as bullet points. His wording is unchanged.
The message no loving father wants to receive from his daughter's mother. "as required by the court, this is my three week notice that I will be moving with Leila out of state." it's been nine years, fighting for family court to recognize my custodial and parental rights to enforce visitation rights on Gillian Cherico. (my daughter's mom) reporter in the family court includes: one complete parental alienation from father to Jillian test positive for cocaine at seven months pregnant three ACS case open on Gillian on Leila's third year of life for ACS finds empty fridge containing only beer at mother's residence five both of Gillian parents testified that Jillian is mentally ill and needs psychiatric evaluation at family court hearing involving both grandparents. Six details of a CS findings suppressed and denied to father. Make these six points bullet points. August 24, 2006 Stephen Ortiz showed up to court to address and out of state relocation petition granted to Jillian Chierico. Instead, I'm in jail for." not paying child" - and unlawful payment order currently being charged. However, the calculations are incorrect-a 2019 order from magistrate Sudeep Kaur suspending two years of payment, which was never enforced or recalculated by family court or child support. If I pay, then I agree to the error and can no longer challenge it; so they continuously deny the hearing challenging payment and jurisdiction based on minor issues and false claim such as improper service to respondent or non-appearance on dates to court time stamped to my injection providing I was there as well as court officers serving the future court date at the door of the courtroom at the point of date and time of healing while being denied entry and marked as absent because your mother was a no-show, which would have automatically granted me a win on the jurisdiction/payment issue which magistrate received financial interest from. So I'm continuously jail without due process and a meaningful fact finding hearing so as to force payment from me, ultimately, forcing jurisdiction, a.k.a. bullpen therapy and cohesion of payment! What court claims to be" civil contempt" are actually financially motivated, retaliatory misuse of authority on very present father. Order of events : in 2019 my motion to vacate judgment due to lack of jurisdiction/custody motion is denied- magistrate Sudeed Kaur grant suspension of child support payment until 2022 and orders petitioner (Jillian Chierico) to not leave or move child(Leila) from New York without my(Stephen Ortiz) written consent. My demand for a fact-finding hearing to determine whether proper and lawful service was ever made has been continuously circumvented by family court by all means necessary. Service of notice is lawfully necessary to initiate claim and payment orders. In the same 2019 hearing the magistrate also ordered that Gillian cannot leave or move out of NYC without my written consent - in order she has continuously violated without any correction from the court to this day. 1. The judge order to suspend payment for two years. Two. magistrates order that Jillian required my written consent to leave or to move out of NY with my daughter, have not been honored while arrears and payments pile up, and my rights to a hearing on these matters are continuously denied while recalculation was never applied and debt and charges continues to pile up while mothers continually violate order to not leave with zero correctional enforcement of order on mother from magistrate, despite being notified of such violations. It is important to mention that child support orders derived from a default judgment(no-show) one family court knew I was on trial at a different court on separate matters. The court order directed payment be made starting from 2015 when mother and child live with me and we're under my care evident by mother's own written admission. Keep being sent to Ryker's with no criminal charges no accusations of a crime and no lawful a meaningful hearing based on fact to determine if I'm willfully avoiding payment. - my inability to pay and a stat required traverse hearing to be able to grant Jillian permission to relocate. "why don't you just make a payment plan?" the question I know most readers will ask themselves. -this is where the injustice the fraud is clearly seen, and where the assumptions die to legal education. Family court has found a trick to legally blind fathers to unlawful orders under the family court at." how are you doing? "Acknowledging the courts authority" by making a general appearance or responding to the judgment/orders or making a payment is interpreted by family court as agreeing with them and grant them jurisdiction. The payment window agent told me themselves that paying one dollar towards the arrears disqualifies me from changing and challenging the arrears, which were never corrected in accordance to Sudeep Kaur's modification order. - on March 26, 2026. I was scheduled to a hearing on the you jurisdiction issue, Jillian was a no-show and instead of proceeding with the hearing subpoena, Rosario marked as a non-appearance and had the court officer hand me a paper with a future court date at the door of the courtroom. -lastly, relocation was granted to Jillian on the basis of my non-appearance when in reality, I was never notified, Jillian had decided to conveniently send the notification to a Bayside she, as well as the court, knew I did not live in. Evident by my notification to them and the fact that both the court and Jillian had been sending letters to a fresh metal address for the last two years. The Bayside address was boarded off from the public and vacant and yet family court accepted it as proper notification. Family court receives incentives in the hundreds of millions to find non-custodial parents in default judgment and usually take up to 60 to 75% of payments made by non-custodial parents. So I'm stuck between being punished for using the proper legal process to challenge the unlawful payment charges and being forced to pay under threat of arrest and subsequently disqualified me from rightfully challenging and incorrect debt. Key facts: I forgot to mention that magistrate Sudeed Kaur I've been admitted I was improperly served in 2017. I still denied my objection due to." field service" on petitioner. She claimed I cannot serve her via mail with my own name yet they accepted her service on me even when it sent to an abandoned home! - I invite the world to look up a court case named "blessing versus freestone" we're a child support and admit that "the state program is not intended to benefit individual children and custodial parents" - the money is actually going towards funding a judge's retirement account. So when family court magistrate denies a father visitation, or imposes unlawful payment orders, father's need to object on the record and site this case to preserve the objection on the record
Editorial Notes
These notes sit outside the firsthand account. Nothing inside his statement has been altered.
- Under reviewDATE REQUIRES CONFIRMATION — the date August 24, 2006 appears in the account as supplied and has not been altered.
- Under reviewSpelling variants Gillian / Jillian and Cherico / Chierico must eventually be checked against records. They are not altered inside the firsthand story.
Case Timeline
Verified timeline events are entered separately from the firsthand account. Documentation for this timeline is being compiled.
Where Steven says due process failed
These are the questions his account raises. They are campaign positions and attributed claims, not findings.
Service
Steven says notice was sent to a Bayside address that was vacant and boarded off, and that both the court and the petitioner had been using a different address for two years.
Notice
Steven says relocation was granted on the basis of his non-appearance, when he says he was never notified of the proceeding.
Jurisdiction
Steven says his demand for a fact-finding hearing on whether lawful service was ever made has been repeatedly circumvented.
Opportunity to Be Heard
Steven says he was marked absent on a date he says he was present, and that a court officer handed him a future date at the courtroom door.
Calculation of Arrears
Steven says a 2019 suspension order was never applied or recalculated, and that arrears continued to accrue.
Findings of Willfulness
Steven says he has been sent to Rikers without a meaningful fact-based hearing on whether nonpayment was willful.
Impact on his children and family
Steven's account centers on his daughter Leila and on a relocation out of state that he says was granted without notice to him. The campaign's position is that a father's relationship with his child should not be severed through a default entered on a defective address.
Documents & court records
Documentation for this section is being compiled. Court orders, proofs of service, transcripts and commitment orders will be published here with source and verification labels, after review for private information.
Key quotes
“So I'm continuously jail without due process and a meaningful fact finding hearing so as to force payment from me.”
“The Bayside address was boarded off from the public and vacant and yet family court accepted it as proper notification.”