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A major headache for custodial parents, children and society is created
when a parent refuses to pay his or her court ordered child support. This
is a serious problem of national dimensions. A recent study found that
less than half the parents awarded child support receive payment in full.
In 1989 alone, $4 billion dollars that was owed in child support
was not paid. This failure on the part of non-custodial parents - usually
but not always fathers - is a major cause of poverty in children. This
not only affects the families but has an indirect impact on the society
who must finance poverty programs to assist those in need.
In most states, each county has established a child support enforcement
agency that can assist you in collecting child support from your spouse.
This agency has responsibility for collecting child support for families
receiving public assistance, and also, upon application for non-public
assistance families. Applicants for public assistance must
assign child support rights to the state and must help locate the parent
absent from the home. Failure to cooperate may result in the denial of
public assistance.
Services are available to Non-public assistance parents by the payment
of a non-refundable $20 fee. If you are representing yourself, and you
are not on public assistance, applying to the child support agency in your
county for assistance is an excellent method of obtaining legal representation
at minimal cost (payment of $20.00 fee).
The custodial parent has many tools available to enforce child support
orders, all of which should be considered if payments are not being made:
Use the Government's Parent Locator Service
Nonpaying parents often hide from the custodial parent in order to avoid
their child support obligation, often going so far as to move out of state
to avoid their responsibilities. Such abandonments have caused many parents
to go on welfare.
In order to remedy this problem, the federal government has created
the Parent Locator Service, which allows the resources of the federal
government including the Social Security Administration and the Internal
Revenue Service, to be used to locate a nonpaying parent's employer. Once
found, the custodial parent or the state can enforce the child support
order and collect unpaid support. The law also permits the IRS to pay child
support arrears from tax refunds the nonpaying parent may be owed by the
government. (The law also requires the states to establish a Parent Locator
Services.) For more information on the Parent Locator Service, contact
the
local office of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Obtain a Wage Assignment
Many states allow the court to order an employer to make direct payments
to the custodial parent from the wages of the supporting parent. This procedure
is known as a wage assignment. The wage assignment can be issued upon proper
application by the court and served on the paying parent's employer. Once
implemented, the employer will deduct child support like any other deduction
from the paying parent's paycheck and send the money directly to the custodial
parent. This is a very valuable tool - if the nonpaying parent holds a
steady job
Request a Writ of Execution
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A child support order can be enforced like other court judgments. If the
nonpaying parent has assets such as real property, bank accounts, stock,
a paid-off car or other property, the property may be seized upon proper
application to the court. If you choose to represent yourself, you will
find form books in your local law library that will have the proper wording
of the documents and will explain the procedure for applying for a contempt
of court citation, wage assignment, or writ of execution in your state.
If this method of enforcing child support is chosen, a pro se litigant
is well advised to retain the services of a competent attorney or pursue
enforcement through the Child Support Enforcement Administration.
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If the pro se litigant chooses to forward on his or her own the litigant
should be aware that all states provide a wide variety of means
to execute on judgments (defined as a dollar amount which has been reduced
to a judgment by the court).
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If the above means of obtaining the property of a judgment debtor are not
successful other means exist. For example, you can garnish of property of the judgment debtor. Generally a writ of garnishment
is used when a third party is holding property of the judgment debtor. You can
also garnish the wages of a judgment debtor.
Bring a Civil Contempt of Court Action.
If a person willfully disobeys a lawful child support order, he or she
can be jailed for contempt of court. The civil contempt action is brought
by the custodial parent. The court clerk will have the proper forms. After
that, the nonpaying parent will have to be served with process since he
or she has the Constitutional right to appear at the hearing and present
a defense. If the nonpaying parent is served with process and does not
appear, the trial court will order a bench warrant issued for his or her
arrest.
If the court finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the parent has willfully
failed to pay pursuant to a valid child support order, the court can order
the nonpaying parent jailed. (A parent who can show that they did not have
the ability to pay will not be found in contempt of court, even though
he or she will continue to owe the money.)
Often, the mere threat of jail is sufficient to pry open the
recalcitrant parent's pocketbook. However, in severe cases, parents will
be jailed and often the jail sentence will be open-ended, terminating only
when the proper payment has been made.
Seek a Criminal Prosecution
All states also have criminal statutes on the books to punish parents who
refuse to pay their child support. If the custodial parent complains to
the district attorney's office, it may seek an indictment against the nonpaying
parent in criminal court. If the defendant is found guilty, he or she may
be jailed. Or, the guilty parent may be put on probation and allowed to
remain free if he or she pays all back child support and makes all future
payments in a timely manner. |
