Originally Posted by nanglgrl:
2. It can be incredibly difficult to collect on a 2 week notice owed if you take the parents to court. They will usually say they didn't feel their child was safe with you or something similar and most judges will say in that case a 2 week notice was not needed because you can't expect a parent to bring their child for 2 weeks to a place that is not safe. Some judges also look at it as asking for money you didn't work for. Of course there are other outcomes and you can cross your fingers that your contract will hold up but is the time worth the money you will lose taking time off of work for court and all of the stress?
Our concilliation court is very efficient and rarely do daycare providers lose if they have a signed contract and followed it. It's too bad your court system isn't so simple.
3. Even if you do win in court it doesn't mean you will see the money anytime soon, it will just be a judgement on their credit report (but you should make sure it shows up because in some cases it is not automatic).
Here the family has 30 days to pay or make acceptable payment arrangements to pay it. If they don't pay or don't stick to the arrangement, their paychecks are automatically garnished and we (the providers) receive our money rather quickly....and it shows on their credit too.
I answered some in bold above too
I would definitely try to get the money you are owed per your contract.
Tom Copeland has a great example of a letter for collections on his blog
http://www.tomcopelandblog.com/contracts-policies/