Child Support | Pennsylvania Family Law Blog - The Law Offices of Sheryl R. Rentz - Part 4
Child Support Payments Hampered by Economic Downturn
The slowing economy and weak job market is having an adverse effect on child support, Illinois officials are finding out. According to this news report in the Chicago Tribune, a lot of parents are asking for a break because they have lost their jobs or have some other economic hardship. The Illinois Division of Child Support is apparently seeing a slowdown in collections and an increase in support paid out of unemployment benefits. This trend is understandably putting a strain on custodial parents who depend on that child support check to keep their households running. Illinois law requires parents who don’t have custody to pay between 20 and 50 percent of his or her income, depending on the number of children involved.
Pennsylvania has very strict laws that make penalties for those who don’t pay child support extremely severe. Any amount owed in back payments is known as “arrearages.” The parent who fails to make those payments can face harsh penalties including jail time, driver’s license and passport suspension, bank account seizure, reporting of failure to pay to credit agencies and seizure of certain incomes and properties. Read the rest »
“Baby Daddy” Child Support Bill in Tennessee Passes the House
Men can stop making child support payments after learning through DNA testing that they are not the father of the child, under a legislation approved by the Tennessee House this month. According to this news report, House Bill 805, sponsored by Rep. Stacey Campfield passed on a 66-24 vote. The measure, called the “baby daddy bill,” is about being fair, Campfield has said. This of course will not apply in cases where the man has legally adopted the child. Another provision in this bill also states that the child support payments are to continue for 60 days after “childhood is disestablished.” Read the rest »
Former Bengals Receiver Arrested for Failure to Pay Child Support
A judge in Cincinnati has ordered former Bengals wide receiver Darnay Scott to be arrested after Scott missed a court appearance in his child support case. According to this UPI news report, the 36-year-old Scott was scheduled to appear in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court to face two charges of failing to pay child support. The judge ordered Scott’s $5,000 bond revoked and issued an arrest warrant. Scott apparently owes $10,686 in arrears to his two daughters, ages 11 and 6.
When one parent fails to pay his or her required child support payments to the other parent, the amount owed in back payments are known as arrearages. Pennsylvania has very strict laws that make punishments for offenders extremely severe. Parents who do not pay their child support arrears can face stiff penalties including jail time, driver’s license and passport suspension, bank account seizure and reporting to credit agencies. When a parent owes arrears and refuses to pay them, you can file an enforcement application with the court. Also, Pennsylvania child support laws allow for imposition of penalties once a child support enforcement application has been filed. Read the rest »
Deadbeat Dad Flees after a Police Stop
Police in Milford, Delaware, arrested a deadbeat dad who tried to flee when he was pulled over for speeding. According to an ABC News report, a state trooper tried to pull over Eric Darling when he was clocked doing 68 mph in a 50 mph zone. Darling apparently slowed down and pulled onto the shoulder before fleeing the scene. The trooper pursued him. Darling lost control of his vehicle on a curve and it fell into a ditch and rolled over several times, the news report stated.
Authorities say Darling was wanted by the Kent County Family Court because he owed arrears on child support. Officials did not say how much he owed in child support payments. Darling did not suffer major injuries in the crash, but will face charges related to the police pursuit and the accident after he is released from the hospital. Read the rest »
New York Child Support Collects $1.7 Billion in 2008
The state of New York has so far collected $1.7 billion in child support for the year 2008, according to this news report. That number is an increase of $104 million over the previous year. According to the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, this was the biggest annual increase in child support collections since 2001. Officials say this increase was due to the agency’s efforts to collect as well as the establishment of paternity of 90,937 New York children – which was up 3 percent from 2007. The department can take a number of steps from garnishing wages to intercepting tax returns when non-custodial parents get behind on support payments.
Pennsylvania has very strict laws that make punishment for parents who do not pay child support very severe. Any amounts owed in back payments of child support in Pennsylvania are known as arrearages. A parent who does not pay up can face punishment that includes jail time, driving license and/or passport suspension, bank account seizure and reporting of failure to pay to credit agencies. If you are a parent who is looking to collect child support, all it takes is contacting an experienced Pennsylvania child support attorney. The best family law attorneys will not charge for an initial consultation. Read the rest »
Pennsylvania Mom Arrested for Failing to Pay Child Support
The Allegheny County Sheriff’s office arrested a woman who owes more than $40,000 in child support, according to this Associated Press news report. Genevieve Null, 38, of McKees Rocks, fled to Florida but returned to Pennsylvania. Officials have been looking for her for about three years, they said. Null had also been featured on a Sheriff’s Office Web site as one of Allegheny County’s “most wanted.” Read the rest »
Child Support Ruling Overturned in Favor of Former NFL Star
Michael Booth wrote in the New Jersey Law Journal on August 27, 2008 that Michael Strahan a former New York Giants defensive end won his appeal against an $18,000 monthly child support ruling imposed on him in his 2006 divorce. Ruling in his favor that this was ‘exorbitant and unfairly apportioned’ against him was the New Jersey appellate court. The appellate court indicated that the trial judge failed to make the specific findings of fact necessary to sustain his decision to add $200,000 a year to the $35,984 annual award the couples twin girls are due under statutory guidelines.
Acknowledging that children of high-earning families pose distinctive problems in regards to their reasonable needs, the court said trial judges should avoid overindulgence – citing the doctrine of In re Patterson, 920 P.2d 450 (Kan. App. 1996), that “no child, no matter how wealthy the parents, needs to be provided [with] more than three ponies.” Read the rest »
Pennsylvania Child Custody Tax Hurts Parents, Kids Financially
A recent article in the Patriot News discusses the Pennsylvania state tax fee of $25 that is being charged to custodial parents on an annual basis. That’s right, the Pennsylvania statute actually taxes the parents that HAVE custody of the child in the case of divorce annually.
The Pennsylvania Legislature decided to charge custodial parents $25 annually for each child, provided they collect at least $2,000 a year from the noncustodial parent and have never received cash assistance from welfare. The fee started when a federal law that required states’ help in recouping some of the costs for providing child support enforcement services went on the books. States like Pennsylvania were given the option of collecting the money from one of the parents or paying it themselves. Pennsylvania decided to collect it from parents that had custody of children from broken homes. Read the rest »
Failure To Pay Child Support Could Result In Driver’s License Suspension
The prospect of losing their driving privilege has apparently prompted more than 3,000 Illinois parents to pay about $1.3 million in child support since Jan. 1, according to an Associated Press news report. The way this new program works is that the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services sends out warning notices to deadbeat parents who owe at least $2,500 in child support provided they have an Illinois driver’s license.
If these parents do not reply, their names are then forwarded to the secretary of state who suspends their driver’s license 60 days later. At least 20 other states have similar programs to force parents to do the responsible thing and provide for their children. Illinois has especially been notorious over the years for having the most number of parents who skipped child support payments. According to the report, seven years ago, the state collected $726 million in child support. This year, after this new law was enacted, that number has risen to more than $1.2 billion. Read the rest »
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