Resources
Child Support Resource Library
Welcome to the YoungWilliams Child Support Resource Library. Search by keywords or use the filters to select categories of interest to you. Currently, our Library consists of academic and government research articles and reports from around the country, federal opinions, and case law from states in which our full service child support projects are located.
Dixon v. Olmstead (Mississippi 2020)
Proof of a substantial change of circumstances isn’t required when a IV-D agency petitions for a modification under the three-year review statute. However, the record must contain evidence of the parent’s income. The father filed to terminate support and his parental rights to a minor child. The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) filed a cross-complaint to modify support. The father also filed for contempt over visitation issues. Specific to support, the chancellor upwardly modified the support amount. The father appealed.
Thompson v. Thompson (Nebraska 2020)
To receive credit for health insurance premiums, a parent must provide specific information as to the cost attributable to the child. The father filed to modify custody and support. After hearing, the district court modified child support based on the birth of the father’s first child but didn’t give credit for an unborn child. The court also declined to credit him for health insurance premiums paid prior to the modification. Because the child support worksheet attached to the order didn’t include the cost of the father’s current health insurance premium, the father filed a motion to alter or amend. He offered new evidence of the cost his health insurance premium, but the court denied the motion. The father appealed.
Child Support Enforcement-Led Employment Services for Noncustodial Parents
This report examines the issues relative to providing employment services for noncustodial parents (NCP) through the child support program (CSE). The report acknowledges the link between employed NCPs and the ability of the CSE program to income withhold, the most effective tool for collecting child support payments.
Story Behind the Numbers: Millennials in the Child Support Program
Millennials are on the verge of passing the Baby Boomers as the country’s largest adult generation. This report uses data from the Federal Case Registry and Debtor File and survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics to analyze the role of the millennials in the child support program.
In re Ray (Kansas 2020)
The right to appeal is statutory, and without a basis for the appeal, it will be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. The mother and father filed for divorce. A temporary order set child support. Various proceedings ensued around custody for the child. The mother filed to modify the temporary support order, which was denied, and requested permission to move with the child.
Williamson v. Williamson (Mississippi 2020)
Chancellors have discretion on the determination of adjusted gross income (AGI) for child support. As long as there is no abuse of that discretion, the child support determination will not be overturned on appeal. The father appealed the final divorce order arguing the chancery court improperly calculated his AGI. The court of appeals upheld the child support calculation, finding no abuse of discretion.
Young v. Air Masters Mechanical Inc, (Mississippi 2020)
If a parent’s rights to a child have been terminated, that child is not considered a dependent under the Workers’ Compensation Act. The decedent died in the course of his work. He left no survivors. The mother petitioned the Commission to pay child support arrears from the decedent’s workers’ compensation death benefits. The decedent was the biological father of her children but had relinquished his parental rights. At the time of the relinquishment, he owed back support, and the mother had a judgment for the amount. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, where the Court found that the children no longer met the definition of a dependent.
Access and Visitation Program Update FY 2018
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 provided funding for the Access and Visitation program in 54 states and territories. Any program under this grant is intended to promote safe visitation between children and their parents. This report summarizes the key takeaways provided by the grant recipients for FY 2018 in the following areas: program participation, participant groups, program activity, referral sources, marital status of participants, participants’ annual income, race and ethnicity, number of noncustodial parents who reported increased parenting time.
Jones v. Jones (Nebraska 2020)
A child support worksheet is required regardless of the amount of support. In this appeal of a custody modification, the Nebraska Supreme Court addressed an issue that wasn’t squarely before it. The trial court granted a father’s request to change physical custody of a child and ordered a new support obligation for the mother. A child support worksheet wasn’t attached to the order, which the mother noted in her initial appeal. The appellate court found in favor of the mother, so didn’t reach the lack of a worksheet issue. The father then appealed, and the Supreme Court reversed the appellate court.
Krohn v. Krohn (Mississippi 2020)
A court must approve any custody change. Without a court order, there may be no right to support. In this divorce, the mother was awarded primary custody of the child. The father was ordered to pay support and alimony. Post-divorce litigation regarding custody and child support began almost immediately. The father lost his high paying job and requested a modification. At a hearing, the chancery court found the father in contempt for failure to pay support, set purge conditions, entered a judgment for arrears, and reduced his child support obligation going forward. The father filed a Motion to Alter or Amend The Amended Judgement. He argued the chancery court should have ordered the Mother to pay him support for a brief period of time the child resided with him.
