Life After Welfare
This report, which includes a chapter on child support, examines outcomes of Maryland families who left cash assistance, focusing on their characteristics, employment and earnings outcomes, and the receipt of other public benefits. The main findings indicate that families’ financial situations improved after exiting Maryland’s Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program, compared with their circumstances before…
Read MoreAn Evaluation of the Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative
The Child Support Savings Initiative was developed and implemented by Kansas to help parents who owe child support pay off debt while also saving for their children’s higher education. Parents who meet their current support obligations and make deposits into college savings plans, known as 529 accounts, receive matching reductions in their child support debts.…
Read MoreLasecki v. Lasecki (North Carolina 2017)
An unincorporated settlement agreement is a contract, and the agreed-to child support obligation can’t be modified based on a change of circumstances like a court-ordered obligation. The father appealed the district court’s decision not to reduce his support obligation based on his lower income. The appellate court held that a trial court is without authority…
Read MoreTSR v. State of Wyoming (Wyoming 2017)
As long as the process meets statutory requirements, a court may deviate from presumptive support for later-born children. The mother appealed the district court’s decision to deviate downward from presumptive support for a child born of the father’s current marriage. The district court calculated presumptive support for the parties’ child. The court then calculated the…
Read MoreMitchell v. Moore (Mississippi 2017)
The dismissal of a paternity complaint is not a jurisdictional bar to the refiling of the complaint. In this heirship action, relatives of the deceased challenged his child’s status as his heir, arguing that the paternity order was void. The Department of Human Services filed the initial paternity complaint in 2007 and then dismissed it…
Read MoreJohnson v. Dominick (Tennessee 2017)
The Tennessee child support guidelines provide that child support starts at the birth of the child and retroactive support must be set accordingly.* If a court deviates from the guidelines, it must make specific findings regarding the factors set forth in Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-2-311(a)(11)(A)(i-iii). Without these findings, the order is defective. The mother…
Read MoreState ex rel. Schrita O. v. Robert T. (Tennessee 2017)
A mother has standing to bring a paternity action in juvenile court even if the child has a legal guardian. In this case, the grandfather of the child had been his legal guardian since birth. On appeal, the father argued that the court did not have subject matter jurisdiction to decide the claims because mother…
Read MoreChild Support Collections to Offset Out-of-Home Placement Costs: A Study of Cost Effectiveness
Families that experience out-of-home placement (OHP) of a child in the child welfare or juvenile justice system are disproportionately poor, and the reasons for OHP often stem from poverty. Because OHP is expensive, and society values parental responsibility, federal and state laws require that parents be referred to the child support system to help offset…
Read MoreBlack v. Black (Mississippi 2017)
When a parent’s adjusted gross income exceeds $100,000 per year, the Court must make a finding as to whether the application of the guidelines is reasonable. The guideline child support award would be 20 percent of the parent’s adjusted gross income. The father in this case is a surgeon whose adjusted gross income is more…
Read MoreRoberts v. Roberts (Nebraska 2017)
The definition of income for child support is flexible, and the court has wide discretion on what to include and exclude as income. This case addresses a wide variety of issues with calculating income for child support. The district court properly excluded a housing allowance and danger pay from the father’s income but inappropriately included…
Read MoreChild Support Cases without Support Orders: Three-Year Outcomes
The authors reviewed a sample of cases in the Maryland child support caseload for which child support orders had not been established and examined the outcome of these cases over a three-year time period. They found that 60.9% of these cases closed within three years; 21.6% had established support orders with a median amount of…
Read MoreMarshall v. Marshall (Nebraska 2017)
The definition of income for child support purposes is flexible and fact-specific, according to the Nebraska Supreme Court. This lines up with the equitable nature of child support proceedings. The trial court in this case split the difference between the parents’ proposed income for father. In overturning the appellate court decision, the Court found that…
Read MoreDrabbels v. Drabbels (Nebraska 2017)
The court should not include employer-paid health insurance as income to a parent for child support. In this case, the father’s employer pays the health insurance premium for the father and the child. The district court included this cost in the father’s monthly income but did not give him credit for the premium amount off…
Read MoreThe U.S. Wage Garnishment Landscape: Through the Lens of the Employer
This is a follow-up to its initial 2014 wage garnishment analysis in a report entitled, Garnishment: The Untold Story. For its most recent analysis, the ADP Research Institute used aggregated, anonymous 2016 payroll data of 12 million employees. The study found that child support continues to be the top reason for wage garnishment (also known…
Read MoreGarnishment: The Untold Story
The ADP Research Institute analyzed aggregated, anonymous 2013 payroll data of 13 million employees. Child support was found to be the top reason for wage garnishment (also known as income withholding). The ADP RI learned that that 7.2% of employees aged 16 years and over had their wages garnished, and of those employees whose wages…
Read MoreCatawba County ex rel. Rackley v. Loggins (North Carolina 2017)
Catawba County ex rel. Rackley v. Loggins, No. 152PA16 (N.C. 2017). A court maintains subject matter jurisdiction to modify a child support order even without a formal motion for modification. The parents filed a modified voluntary support agreement and order in 2001. The father failed to pay current support regularly and was involved in many…
Read MoreSarno v. Sarno (North Carolina 2017)
North Carolina courts must follow the statutory process for deviating from presumptive child support. The mother appealed the court’s deviation from presumptive support arguing that the court failed to make the required findings. In North Carolina, the court can consider a deviation after determining the presumptive support amount, considering evidence regarding the child’s need for…
Read MoreScobey v. Scobey (Tennessee 2017)
A parent must present evidence of their most recent actual income when determining income for a child support modification. The father requested a modification of his support and used outdated income information to calculate the new obligation. The trial court denied the modification and the appellate court upheld the decision. The appellate court found the…
Read MoreNudging Changes in Human Services: Final Report of the BIAS Project
This is the final report (2017-23) of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project conducted by MRDC under a contract with the federal Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in which 15 state and local agencies participated. The project consisted of identifying problems that are appropriate for behavioral interventions, designing interventions, and conducting…
Read MoreLow-income and Never-Married Families: Service and Support at the Intersection of Family Court and Child Support Agency Systems
This report describes the challenges child support enforcement agencies face with respect to the adversarial nature of their processes, and the poverty, unemployment, and other barriers to the economic security of poor and never-married parents who comprise the child support caseload.
Read MoreIn re Grace N. (Tennessee 2017)
This is the second appeal of this case. The parties appealed the child support calculation in the first order and are now appealing the calculation in the amended order. The Mother appeals the trial court’s calculation of the Father’s income with respect to the proceeds of a property sale and barter income, the court’s exclusion…
Read MoreWilliams v. Williams (Tennessee 2017)
Tennessee statutes require that an initial support order contain a judgment for retroactive support or findings to support deviating from the requirement. In this divorce action, the court awarded primary custody of the children to father. The court ordered no current support because mother was receiving social security. Prior to the custody order, the children…
Read MoreCopeland v. Copeland (Mississippi 2017)
A court can terminate child support when the children’s clear and extreme behavior makes the parent-child relationship impossible. The father, the non-custodial parent in this case, petitioned the chancery court to award him custody of his children and/or for other general relief. The chancery court denied the modification but found the children’s behavior toward their…
Read MoreIn the Matter of the Paternity of S.M.J. (Kansas 2017)
In an indirect contempt proceeding, the individual must be physically present. If necessary, the Court can issue a bench warrant to compel attendance. The father in this case appealed a contempt finding that resulted from a hearing he did not attend, even though he had been properly served. The language of the indirect contempt statute…
Read MoreState on behalf of Lockwood v. Laue (Nebraska 2017)
In a contempt proceeding for failure to pay child support, a parent can rebut a presumptive finding with evidence showing the failure to pay was not willful. In a district court exception hearing, the court has the discretion to hear additional evidence. In this case, the state of Nebraska took exception to a referee’s dismissal…
Read MoreDennis v. Dennis (Mississippi 2017)
A person who voluntarily agrees to pay support may be held to that obligation under a quasicontractual theory. In this case, the great-grandparents were the custodians of a child. The great-grandparents subsequently divorced and in the settlement agreement, the step great-grandfather, who had no biological connection to the child, agreed to pay child support. Several…
Read MoreThompson v. Gerlach (North Carolina 2017)
In order to find a parent in contempt for failure to pay support, the court must find evidence of their ability to pay and willful failure to do so. Also, the order must contain specific purge conditions and date. In this case, the trial court found the father in contempt for failure to pay support…
Read MoreIn re Conner F. (Tennessee 2017)
When determining income for child support, the court can consider a parent’s lifestyle if the lifestyle is inconsistent with the amount of income the parent claims. The father appealed the lower court’s income determination. The record showed that he represents his income inconsistently. He made claims of a high yearly income, but provided documents that…
Read MoreKann v. Kann (Colorado 2017)
Child support and spousal support arrears accrue in two ways, the unpaid principal amount and interest. In cases for collection of spousal support arrears, the defense of laches may apply regardless of the source of the arrears; however, the court reaffirmed its earlier decision in In re Marriage of Johnson, 2016 CO 67 (2016), that…
Read MoreAraujo v. Araujo (Nebraska 2017)
Distributions from a trust fund are income to a parent for purposes of child support. When determining income for child support, the court can consider a parent’s earning capacity as opposed to their actual earnings. The mother appealed this child support order and argued that trust distributions were not income. She also argued that the…
Read MorePlummer v. Plummer (Mississippi 2017)
When a parent’s income varies from year to year, the court must use its discretion in calculating the monthly income for child support. In this child support modification action, the Chancellor averaged the father’s high and low adjusted gross income to reach his income for child support. The appellate court found this appropriate. The Chancellor…
Read MoreErin W. v. Charissa W. (Nebraska 2017)
A court did not abuse its discretion in denying a motion for genetic testing in a divorce proceeding where the child was born during the marriage and the father had held out and supported the child as his own. Prior to their marriage, the mother told the father he might not be the child’s biological…
Read MoreThe Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA): An Explanation
Congress has long recognized the need for protective legislation for servicemembers whose service to the nation compromises their ability to meet obligations and protect their legal interests. This report discusses the history and provisions of The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act which provides civil protections and rights to individuals based on their service in…
Read MoreNonmarital Births: An Overview
This report by the Congressional Research Service analyzes the trends in nonmarital childbearing, discusses some of the characteristics of unwed mothers, addresses some issues involving the fathers of children born outside of marriage, and offers some concluding remarks. It also contains a brief discussion of paternity establishment within the IV-D program, and its positive impact…
Read MoreFatherhood Initiatives: Connecting Fathers to Their Children
The federal government’s support of fatherhood initiatives raises a wide array of issues. This report briefly examines the role of the CSE agency in fatherhood programs, discusses initiatives to promote and support father-child interaction outside the parents’ relationship, and talks about the need most see for work-oriented programs that enable noncustodial parents to have the…
Read MoreChild Support Enforcement and the Hague Convention on Recovery of International Child Support
This report published by the Congressional Research Service provides an overview of the current Child Support Enforcement (CSE) system and a discussion of how international CSE cases are handled. It provides a summary of the 2007 Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (the Convention), which was…
Read MoreMississippi Dep’t of Human Services v. Porter (Mississippi 2017)
UIFSA does not require an initiating tribunal or registered child support order for a responding tribunal to have subject matter jurisdiction to establish a support order. Additionally, UIFSA calls for the responding state to apply its laws and procedures to the order, including its age of majority. The state of Illinois requested Mississippi’s assistance in…
Read MoreKolar v. Tester (Nebraska 2017)
The court appropriately used its discretion to calculate income for a father who regularly works more than a 40-hour work week. The father testified that he works between 45 – 50 hours per week, even though he is only guaranteed 40. He is paid at a higher rate for the additional hours. The court calculated…
Read MoreSardon v. Sardon (Tennessee 2017)
The Tennessee statutes allow courts to deviate from the presumptive child support amount for the cost of children’s extracurricular activities. The evidence in this case clearly supported the cost of the activities, and the father did not object to the activities other than he felt mother didn’t consult him. The appellate court upheld the trial…
Read MoreCollins v. Mississippi Dep’t of Human Services (Mississippi 2017)
A parent’s obligation to support a child financially does not end even when their relationship has deteriorated due to extreme behavior from the child, especially when the parent also had a role in the decline of the relationship. The mother in this case appealed a child support order obligating her to pay support for her…
Read MoreAli v. Ali (Mississippi 2017)
When setting child support for a high-income parent, a strict application of the guidelines may not be reasonable. The court must make findings to support its decision. In this case, the chancery court found that applying the child support guidelines to an income greater than $100,000 was not reasonable and set child support based on…
Read MoreExpenditures on Children by Families, 2015 Revised
Since 1960, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided estimates of annual expenditures on children from birth through age 17. This technical report, originally published in January 2017 and revised in March 2017, presents the 2015 estimates for married-couple and single-parent families. Results are shown in tables 1-7 at the end of this report.…
Read MoreIn re CT: Taylor v. Timmons (Mississippi 2017)
When a substantial change of circumstances occurs, a court can modify a child support order. If the court deviates from the new presumptive amount, written findings must support the deviation. In this case, the father appealed his modified order, which increased his support amount from $300 to $1,500 per month. He argued inadequate findings. The…
Read More2016 Preliminary Report
The FY 2016 Preliminary Report provides data for the past five fiscal years reported by state, District of Columbia, and U.S. territory child support programs and includes information on collections, expenditures, paternities, orders established, and other program statistics.
Read MoreState of Tennesse ex rel. Spurlock v. Torres (Tennessee 2017)
A child support order is void if the court did not have personal jurisdiction over the respondent parent. In interstate actions, there are specific requirements for personal jurisdiction over a nonresident parent, one of which is the parent has entered an appearance or filed a responsive document. In this contempt proceeding, the father, a Texas…
Read MoreParrish v. Griggs (Tennessee 2017)
In Tennessee, the obligation to support a child begins at birth unless there is a statutory basis for deviation. The deviation factors revolve around the father not knowing about the child or the possibility of his paternity. The appellate court reviews the support order for an abuse of discretion if appealed. In this case, the…
Read MoreVincent v. Rickman (Mississippi 2017)
If a parent willfully fails to follow the terms of a child support order, the court can find the parent in contempt. Contempt is appropriate if the order is final and the terms are clear. The appellate court upheld the contempt ruling against the father, finding that he failed to comply with the unambiguous terms of…
Read MoreState of Tennessee ex rel. Bass v. Gonzalez-Perez (Tennessee 2017)
Longshore and Harbor Workers’ benefits are exempt from income withholding; however, the receipt of these benefits does not excuse a parent from paying child support. A parent who fails to pay can be found in contempt. In this case, the father suffered a work-related injury and qualified for Longshoreman’s benefits. After the accident, his support…
Read MoreSansom v. Sansom (Tennessee 2017)
The value of a house, given as a one-time gift, should not have been included in this parent’s gross income for child support. The trial court found that the house, under the facts of this case, could only fall into one income category – a gift that could be converted to cash. The trial court added…
Read MoreState ex. rel. Smith v. Thorne (Tennessee 2017)
An appeal of a child support order set in juvenile court must be taken to the circuit court. In this case, the State appealed an order dismissing arrears to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals found it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal because the order originated from a dependency…
Read MoreFisher v. Davis (Kansas 2017)
A final paternity judgment can be set aside if it is based on an error of law and no reasonable person would take the trial court’s view. In this case, the father signed a paternity acknowledgement based on the results of a home paternity test. The father filed a paternity action and a journal order…
Read MoreNunnally v. Nunnally (Tennessee 2017)
In a child support case, the court must have reliable evidence of income above a parent’s regular wages in order to include it in the income calculation. The trial court in this case calculated the parents’ incomes using only their hourly rates even though they testified to additional monthly income. The appellate court found no…
Read MoreHalim v. El-Alayli (Tennessee 2017)
A parent who requests more than the capped amount of child support must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the upward deviation is reasonably necessary to support the children. In this modification action, the mother requested child support plus additional amounts for the caretaker for a special needs child, camp, food, utilities, vacation,…
Read MoreMaher v. Woodruff (Tennessee 2017)
To calculate back child support, apply the guidelines that are in effect at the time of the order. The mother in this case appealed an award of retroactive child support and argued the trial court applied the wrong guidelines. Custody of the children changed from mother to father in 1999. The support amount was not…
Read MoreState ex rel. Secretary for Dep’t for Children and Families v. Smith (Kansas 2017)
A Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (VAP) binds the signers unless it is revoked in the statutory time period. It does not create a presumption of paternity, as the father in this case argued. The father also argued the VAP did not qualify as an acknowledgement because it lacked certain formalities and that the VAP did not…
Read MoreHolman v. Holman (Mississippi 2017)
A parent must create a record to support the amount of arrears requested. The mother in this case failed to support her claim, and it was denied. The mother included medical bills in her arrears request, which was not appropriate. She also claimed the father had missed several child support payments, but did not question his…
Read MoreCarter v. Davis (Mississippi 2017)
The court has discretion to count payments made directly to a child as child support. The pivotal question is would not giving credit unjustly enrich the custodial parent. The father in this case made direct payments to his daughters while they were in college, and the court gave him credit against his arrears for those…
Read MoreMaryland’s Child Support Caseload – A Profile of Custodians, 2015
Using Maryland data, the authors analyze current support and arrears owed to custodians, payments received by custodians, and payments retained by the state. Specifically, the authors utilize a sample of custodians who had active cases in July 2015 and examine each of these topics for the period of July 2014 through June 2015. The report…
Read MoreA Blueprint for Economic Security
This paper explores the intersections of the work-related experiences of men and fathers, child support enforcement policies and practices and support services for fathers with low-incomes. Consideration is given to the historical factors that are complicating efforts to end poverty. The Blueprint also proposes changes to child support enforcement efforts and support services for low-income…
Read MoreThe Story Behind the Numbers: The Child Support Program is a Good Investment
This paper takes a closer look at trends in child support program data and other data that affects the program. This paper explains why the child support program is a good investment. FY 2015 set a new record for achieving child support program results. In FY 1977, shortly after the program began, the child support…
Read MoreIn re: Jalen O-H (Tennessee 2017)
A court can order retroactive support in different amounts for different periods of time as long as evidence supports the determination. The parents in this case had multiple custody arrangements since the child’s birth. The court reviewed the terms of each custody agreement and the time it was in place, the parents’ incomes during that…
Read MoreState ex. re. Williams v. Woods (Tennessee 2017)
Child support is due to a child’s primary caregiver even if that person is not a parent. However, the caregiver must request support and be a party to the action. In this case, mother petitioned the court for child support as the child’s primary caregiver even though the child lived his step grandparent during the school…
Read MoreHouse v. House (Nebraska 2017)
A finding of contempt for failure to pay child support is a rebuttable presumption. The burden of proof shifts to the parent to provide evidence that the failure to pay was not willful. In this case, the father argued he was indigent and could not pay support. The Court found that he offered no other…
Read MoreHamilton v. Young (Mississippi 2017)
A Mississippi court does not have jurisdiction to modify the child support provisions of an out-of-state divorce decree unless neither of the parents reside in the issuing state or the parties agree in writing to transfer jurisdiction. The issuing state retains jurisdiction until one of these conditions is met. In this case, a Mississippi chancery…
Read MoreRambo v. Rambo (Wyoming 2017)
Unpaid child support becomes a judgment by operation of law on the due date. Unless a specific exemption applies, interest begins to accrue at the statutory rate. In this case, the mother filed an order to show cause alleging father had failed to pay child support. The order provided that father could purge himself of…
Read MoreBajestani v. Bajestani (Tennessee 2017)
A parent, with a college degree and other qualifications, is considered voluntarily unemployed if the parent is not actively seeking work and income can be imputed to calculate the child support obligation. The mother in this case had a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and spoke three languages, and the court found she was not…
Read MoreThe Safety Net that Works—Improving Federal Programs for Low Income Americans
This document is a compilation of essays, ideas, and policy recommendations authored by individuals with expertise in various federal anti-poverty programs. The author of one of the essays, Empowering Child Support Enforcement to Reduce Poverty, is Robert Doar, Resident Fellow and Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studiesand former IV-D Director of the New York State Child…
Read MoreHowell v. Smithwick (Tennessee 2017)
Income withholding is mandatory in child support cases unless the court specifically finds good cause or approves an agreement between the parents for an alternative payment arrangement. In this case, the modified child support order did not provide for income withholding, and the mother appealed. The appellate court found the modified order lacked either requirement…
Read MoreDavis v. Davis (Mississippi 2017)
A parent who requests a modification of a support order must show a substantial change of the circumstances that existed at the time of the court order. The change must be unforeseen and happen after entry of the order. In this case, the father was convicted of a felony after the order was entered. Finding…
Read MoreExpenditures on Children by Families 2015
Since 1960, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided estimates of annual expenditures on children from birth through age 17. This technical report presents the 2015 estimates for married-couple and single-parent families. Results are shown in tables 1-7 at the end of this report. Expenditures are provided by age of children, household income level,…
Read MoreFuller v. Fuller (Tennessee 2016)
Child support income for a self-employed parent should not include reasonable and ordinary business expenses or the value of any asset distributed as marital property. In this case, the father was a self-employed financial planner. The trial court failed to subtract the amount of business expenses from his gross income. The trial court also included…
Read MoreThe Story Behind the Numbers: Focused on Performance
This paper describes the dramatic improvements in performance that the child support program has made since the enactment of its federally mandated performance system in 1998. The growth in child support collections is reviewed, highlighting three factors that influence collections: (1) program investments; (2) employment and earnings of parents who owe child support; and (3)…
Read MoreThe Limited Reach of the Child Support Enforcement System
This report examines the declining caseload in the national child support enforcement program in comparison to the population of child support-eligible families, which has remained unchanged over the past two decades. The report attributes most of the decline to the reduction in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) cases, which shrinks the pipeline of mandatory…
Read MorePeak v. Peak (Wyoming 2016)
If a parent fails to file a financial affidavit, the Court can calculate income for child support using the testimony and evidence presented at hearing. In this case, the father failed to answer the divorce complaint and was defaulted. He was provided notice of the default hearing, but he failed to appear and did not…
Read MoreTyler F. v. Sara P. (Nebraska 2016)
An individual may not bring a paternity action as the next friend of a child if the child has a parent who is already acting in that role. The next friend is meant to be used when the child does not have a parent or guardian who can act on its behalf. In this case,…
Read MoreThomas v. Crews (Mississippi 2016)
Substantial and credible evidence must support a child support award. The chancellor found credible evidence that father was the sole member of a limited liability company, he earned a salary from the company, the business had turned a profit, and the business had ongoing operating expenses. The chancellor used this evidence to set father’s income…
Read MoreIn re Lucius H. (Tennessee 2016)
The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which governs commerical contracts and transactions, does not apply to paternity actions. In this case, the parent admitted paternity, but cited the UCC in support of his argument that he did not agree to the birth of the child and should not be liable for support. Once paternity is established, the…
Read MoreKephart v. Kephart (Tennessee 2016)
If a parent is receiving social security disability, no support is due if the amount of the benefit exceeds the presumed amount of support. The statute does not contemplate that the parent will retain the difference between the presumed amount of support and the social security benefit.
Read MoreState ex. rel. Rogers v. Lewis (Tennessee 2016)
A child support order is void if it relieves a parent from the obligation to support a child. The original child support order in this case approved an agreement of the parties that the father maintain health insurance or pay for future medical expenses. While no current support was ordered, no provision prohibited a future…
Read MoreVance v. Miss. Dep’t. of Human Services (Mississippi 2016)
A child support obligation continues when a child is placed in foster care. The obligation vests in the child and will be enforced on behalf of the designated payee. MDHS is that designated payee when the parent was receiving AFDC benefits at the time of the child’s removal and had assigned their right to support…
Read MoreBurcham v. Burcham (Nebraska 2016)
An adoption subsidy should not be counted as income to a parent when calculating child support. In this case, the parents received a monthly subsidy for three adopted special needs children. The subsidy was meant to supplement the parents’ incomes and assist with the extra costs that come with raising special needs children. Since it…
Read MoreIn re Marriage of Johnson (Colorado 2016)
The doctrine of laches is available as a defense to a claim for interest on child support arrears if the custodial parent has not timely pursued collection of the arrears. Allowing a laches defense protects the right of children to parental support and encourages timely enforcement of unpaid obligations. In this case, the father stopped…
Read MoreThe Child Support Enforcement Program: A Review of Data
This report, prepared by the Congressional Research Service, examines the IV-D child support caseload, collection, and expenditure data from Fiscal Year (FY) 1978 through FY 2015. It also presents more detailed data, gathered from state-submitted reports to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, on collections, expenditures, paternity establishment, child support order establishment, cost-effectiveness, and…
Read MoreLueallen v. Lueallen (North Carolina 2016)
When establishing a child support obligation, income can be imputed to a parent who is found to be voluntarily unemployed and motivated by a desired to avoid their reasonable support obligation. Evidence must support the intent to avoid the support obligation. The appellate court in this case found that income had properly been imputed to…
Read More2014 OCSE Annual Report to Congress (Part 3 of 3)
The 2014 OCSE Annual Report to Congress highlights financial and statistical child support achievements based on data reported by state and tribal child support agencies. The content of the Annual Report is mandated by section 452(a) under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act to give Congressional members information that relates to the overall operations…
Read More2014 OCSE Annual Report to Congress (Part 2 of 3)
The 2014 OCSE Annual Report to Congress highlights financial and statistical child support achievements based on data reported by state and tribal child support agencies. The content of the Annual Report is mandated by section 452(a) under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act to give Congressional members information that relates to the overall operations…
Read More2014 OCSE Annual Report to Congress (Part 1 of 3)
The 2014 OCSE Annual Report to Congress highlights financial and statistical child support achievements based on data reported by state and tribal child support agencies. The content of the Annual Report is mandated by section 452(a) under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act to give Congressional members information that relates to the overall operations…
Read MoreBrown v. Brown (Tennessee 2016)
In order to find a parent in criminal contempt of court for failure to pay child support, a petitioner must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the parent had the ability to pay the support when it was due and that the failure to pay support was willful. In this case, the Court found that…
Read MorePreliminary Report 2015
The FY 2015 Preliminary Report provides data reported by all state child support programs to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and includes information on collections, expenditures, paternities, orders established, and other program statistics. This report does not contain data from tribal child support programs. Tribal data will be reported in the FY 2015…
Read MoreThe Young Fathers’ Employment Program in Maryland: An Initial Review of Participant Outcomes
The Maryland Child Support Enforcement Administration (CSEA) recently funded a three-county noncustodial parent employment program called the Young Fathers’ Employment Program. The participating counties were Baltimore, Caroline, and Talbot. The University of Maryland School of Social Work conducted an initial review or a pre-post assessment of participants’ employment, earnings, and child support payments. The researchers…
Read MoreZupan v. Zupan (Wyoming 2016)
The parent who petitions to modify a stipulated child support order must show a material change in circumstances as well as a 20 percent change in the support amount. This rule addresses the issue of a parent agreeing to a support amount 20 percent lower or higher than the presumptive amount only to petition for…
Read MoreSmith v. Williams (Mississippi 2016)
A parent who requests reimbursement for birth and other child-related expenses incurred prior to the establishment of a support order must provide proof of the expenses, and the proof must be admitted into evidence. The mother in this case did not provide sufficient proof of her expenses, and the court did not order reimbursement.
Read MoreMarshall v. Marshall (Nebraska 2016)
*This case has been reversed and remanded for entry of the decree of the district court, see Marshall v. Marshall, 298 Neb. 1 (2017). The amount of a parent’s monthly income must be based on evidence and reasonable. When parties have competing amounts for one parent’s income, the court may not determine income by splitting…
Read MoreStack v. Stack (Tennessee 2016)
A Tennessee court may modify another state’s child support order when the order has been registered in Tennessee, the court has personal jurisdiction over the parties, and the parties have provided the issuing state with written consent to Tennessee’s ongoing jurisdiction. In this case, the parties filed a Notice of Filing of Agreed Order with…
Read MorePatrick v. Patrick (Oklahoma 2016)
Child support may only be awarded for an adult disabled child if there is a causal relationship between the disability and the child’s inability to support him or herself. In this case, the mother could not be ordered to support an adult child who had entered treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. Assuming that substance…
Read MoreState v. Waldo (Tennessee 2016)
A parent must have the present ability to pay child support before he or she can be found in civil contempt for non-payment. The future ability to pay is not enough. The contempt order in this case also sentenced the parent to jail but suspended the sentence as long as the parent made a minimum…
Read MoreHarris v. Porter (Mississippi 2016)
A child’s decision to attend college may be a material change in circumstances that warrant modifying child support. By statute, additional expenses can be added to a support amount, such as college tuition. The father in this case claimed the obligation to pay for half his child’s college expenses would seriously affect his lifestyle; however,…
Read MoreThayer v. Thayer (Tennessee 2016)
The choice to work a lower paying job may mean the parent is voluntarily underemployed for purposes of child support. The parent’s decision must be reasonable in light of the obligation to support his or her child. The Court may consider these factors: past and present employment, education, training and ability to work, and other…
Read MoreMore Child Support Dollars to Kids-Using New State Flexibility in Child Support Pass-Through
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) provides new state flexibility to pass through more child support dollars to children who currently receive or formerly received welfare. The federal government will pick up part of the cost if states exercise this new flexibility. These changes provide opportunities for states to devise new strategies to increase…
Read MoreTollett v. State (Oklahoma 2016)
A parent who has been charged with Omitting to Provide for a Minor has the burden of proving the statute of limitations on the action has not tolled.
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