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.
Holman 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 testimony that he had made mortgage payments in lieu of child support during those months. Without more, the court found the record did not show that father had missed the child support payments and did not include the amount in the arrears calculation.
Carter 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 payments. The court also gave the father credit against his arrears for payments made to the mother from the paternal grandmother. The court found the payments were made on father’s behalf, and the mother could use the money as she saw fit.
Maryland’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 provides information for all custodians as well as for two groups of custodians: those with a recent history of cash assistance participation (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, commonly referred to as TANF) and those without a recent history of cash assistance. The TANF custodians were examined separately because they are required to participate in the child support program, and they must assign all support payments to the state while receiving TANF benefits.
A 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 fathers, and offers policy recommendations for consideration by state and federal policy makers.
The 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 program served less than 1 million cases and collected less than $1 billion. In FY 2015, nearly 40 years later, the child support program served nearly 16 million children and collected $28.6 billion in cases receiving child support services
In 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 time, and set support accordingly. This amounted to four different support amounts for four separate time periods. The father argued the trial court arbitrarily set the time period but the appellate court disagreed. The appellate court acknowledged there might have been a simpler way to set retroactive support but found the trial court supported its decision with evidence and was reasonable.
State 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 week. The father appealed the award in that all the retroactive support went to mother, even for the time the child lived with his step grandfather. The step grandfather testified he considered the parents to be the child’s primary decision makers. The court found that step grandfather had not requested support, was not a party, and upheld the award to mother.
House 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 evidence of his inability to pay such as information regarding a disability. Additionally, he did not provide required tax returns and wage information; therefore, the contempt finding was appropriate.
Hamilton 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 court had no jurisdiction to modify the child support provisions of an Ohio divorce decree. The father still lived in Ohio and had not consented to jurisdiction in Mississippi.
Rambo 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 the contempt by making a monthly arrears payment and that because the arrears had not been reduced to judgment, no interest would accrue. The Supreme Court found this was not a correct interpretation of the statute and that unpaid child support is a judgment by operation of law. Interest accrues on the judgment unless it a specific statutory exemption applies.
