While
Minnesota ranks fourth in the United States in getting non-custodial parents to
pay something toward child support, these parents still owe a
combined $1.5 billion in delinquent payments.
Only 20
percent of non-custodial parents in Minnesota are current on their child
support obligation, with 60 percent of these parents reportedly paying less
than 75 percent of what they owe.
Delinquent
child support payments not only hurt the child and the custodial parent, who
presumably needs the payments to provide for the child's care, but also may
burden the state's social welfare system. In some cases, when a parent does not
receive child support, that parent must turn to government aid in order to keep
the family afloat.
In order
to remind parents of their legal obligation to financially support their
children and in order to promote child support enforcement efforts, Minnesota
named August Child Support Awareness Month. Ideally, statewide efforts such as
Child Support Awareness Month will help custodial parents to collect
outstanding payments.
A
Minnesota resident does have some options to pursue child support enforcement.
A parent who fails to pay child support timely may forfeit his or her tax
refund check, for example. They may also face penalties, including a driver's
license suspension, fines, a lien on their home, suspension on a hunting
license or a professional license and, in some cases, jail time.
Getting
the right information is essential in pursuing all efforts to collect
delinquent child support. Additionally, if the paying parent feels that a child
support order is out of line, it is important that he or she seeks to modify
the order legally rather than put him- or herself in contempt of court by
refusing to pay the ordered amount.
Source: Public News Service, "Unpaid child support puts pressure on state programs, taxpayers,"
Aug. 13, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment