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.
Pope v. Fountain (Mississippi 2019)
In a paternity proceeding, all necessary parties must be joined. The child who was the subject of this case had a presumed and biological father. The biological father filed to establish paternity, and the mother responded. The presumptive father was not joined as a party to the action even though he was ordered to pay support for the child and granted visitation in a divorce decree. The chancery court entered an order establishing the biological father’s paternity, granting visitation, and ordering support. The mother appealed, arguing the presumptive father should have been joined as a party.
Parsons v. Parsons (Tennessee 2019)
A parent must properly plead for a modification otherwise it shouldn’t be considered during a court proceeding. In this post-divorce action, the mother filed for contempt and breach of contract against the father. In their marital dissolution agreement (MDA), the mother was to receive a portion of the father’s supplemental federal retirement benefit. When a federal employee must retire before being social security eligible, this supplemental benefit kicks in to make up the difference. The father, a retired air traffic controller, had to retire at age 56, and was entitled to the benefit. If the federal employee earns income above a certain amount, the supplemental benefit it reduced. This is what happened, and the mother filed to recover her portion. Initially, the trial court awarded the mother additional child support to make up for the lost amount, but in a later proceeding, reversed this decision.
Transforming Colorado’s Child Support Services to a Two-Generation Approach
The Colorado Department of Human Services implemented in a pilot project to change its approach to delivery of child support services from enforcement to multi-generational. This report combines the implementation findings, which have already been released, with the findings of the impact study. The main goal of the project was to direct parents to employment services that would support income growth.
Hodgen v. Hodgen (Nebraska 2019)
A child support abatement will be granted when the parent meets the criteria in the decree. The parents divorced, and the decree contained a provision that allowed the father to abate his child support during June, July, and August as long as he had the children for visitation 28 days or more during the summer. In October 2018, the father filed for an abatement of child support for his summer visitation. The mother objected, arguing that granting the abatement would leave her in a precarious financial situation. The trial court denied the abatement, and the father appealed.
Poole v. Kinslow (Tennessee 2019)
If a court finds a parent voluntarily underemployed, it may use the parent’s earning capacity to calculate child support. In this divorce action, the trial court calculated support using the father’s earning capacity. He was self-employed at the time of trial, but he had earned no income. The father appealed. The court of appeals affirmed.
Hart v. Hart (North Carolina 2019)
Failing to include a corrected support order with a packet for registration is procedural, not jurisdictional, and doesn’t necessarily bar a court from modifying the support order. The parents divorced in Washington, and the father was ordered to pay support. The support order was amended twice, once to reflect the mother and children’s move to North Carolina, and once to fix a typographical error. The father also moved to North Carolina. The mother registered the support order for enforcement. When she filed to register, she didn’t include the corrected order. The father filed to modify support and included all three orders in his filing. The trial court granted his petition and credited him for a substantial amount of support. The mother appealed.
Sensing v. Sensing (Tennessee 2019)
The parent requesting the child support modification bears the burden of proving a significant variance exists between the existing support amount and the amount based on the parent’s current income. The father filed to modify his child support, and the court denied his petition. He appealed on the basis that the court improperly imputed capital gains income to him and that the court applied an improper legal standard. The court of appeals disagreed.
An Examination of the Use and Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement Tools in Six States
The authors of this brief studied child support enforcement practices in six different states. The states had a wide range of caseload sizes and collection percentages for both current support and arrears and had different program structures. The study found five areas where practices varied: the use of judicial or administrative procedures; the use of automated procedures; extent of caseworker discretion; centralized as opposed to county-level decision making; and the case assignment model.
A Better Resolution Reaching Child Support Agreements Between Parents in Vermont
This article describes the state of Vermont’s project to increase parent participation in the establishment and modification of orders using behavioral intervention techniques. Vermont received fund through the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) grant for this project. The project had two goals: increase parent participation during establishment and modification and to increase the number of agreements reached outside of court that settled at least one issue in the case.
Parenting Time Opportunities for Children Research Brief
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OSCE) sponsored a grant-initiative, the Parenting Time Opportunities for Children (PTOC), to research the ways child support agencies could establish parenting time orders along with child support orders. This brief highlights the outcomes of this project. Historically, orders from the child support program haven’t addressed visitation, but research shows that parents who regularly see their children are more likely to pay support among other benefits.
