MINNESOTA'S CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS YIELD RESULTS

On behalf of Askvig & Johnson, PLLP 

According to a recent report, the Child Support Enforcement Division of Minnesota's Department of Human Services collected $582.9 million in child support payments in 2011. For the same period, Minnesota ranked 16th among all states with respect to child support collection.

Minnesota performs particularly well with respect to collecting child support on its open and active cases. By collecting an average of $2,397 in child support on each open case, Minnesota ranked fourth among all the states in the country. Although payments came from a variety of sources, the vast majority of the funds collected came via an income withholding order against a noncustodial parent's paycheck.

Many custodial parents rely on the services of Minnesota's Child Support Enforcement Division for their child support enforcement needs, and it seems that based on the recent statistics, that reliance may be justified, at least to an extent. However, parents are not obligated to use the Child Support Enforcement Division in order to enforce a child support order, and there may be some reasons for not doing so.

For example, even though as a whole Minnesota's Child Support Enforcement Division does a good job collecting support on behalf of the state's parents, the quality of a child support office can vary from county to county, and, in the case of larger counties, can even vary widely from one office to another. More importantly, people must remember that the Child Support Enforcement Division ordinarily cannot act as an attorney for the custodial parent and can only represent the interests of the support division.

In most cases, going through the state's child support enforcement agency is voluntary, and sometimes it may be best for a parent to take collection efforts into his or her own hands. A skilled family law attorney can help a noncustodial parent take the appropriate legal steps to collect child support without the state's assistance.

Source: Wahpeton Daily News, "Wilkin No. 2 in child support collections," Carrie McDermott, June 24, 2013