Manley v. Manley (Mississippi 2023)
A parent must provide clear and convincing evidence in order to receive credit for payments made outside of the terms of a child support order. The mother filed a contempt action against the father for failure to pay child support. The father testified he had paid for the children’s expenses including car payments, tags, car…
Read MoreCarroll v. State ex rel. Dep’t of Family Services, Child Support Enforcement (Wyoming 2022)
To set aside an order, there must be unusual circumstances. The child support order at issue in this case was set in 2012. The father was ordered to pay $50 per month, the statutory minimum. The father challenged the statute setting the statutory minimum as unconstitutional several times but was unsuccessful. In the latest legal action, the District Court modified the support order to $0 and entered a judgment for his arrears. The District Court denied his motion to set aside the order.
Read MoreState ex rel. Gray v. Daugherty (Tennessee 2020)
A motion to alter or amend a judgment must be supported with evidence at trial. The State filed a motion for relief from an arrears judgment alleging that the father had been given credit for a payment made to the mother by an NCP on a different case. At the hearing, the State argued in…
Read MoreCadigan v. Sullivan (Mississippi 2020)
Parents will be held to their extra-judicial agreements regarding child support. A Florida divorce decree awarded physical custody of the child to the father and set the mother’s child support. Several years later, the parents made an extra-judicial agreement that they would share custody of the child and not exchange support. The parties moved to…
Read MoreYoung 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…
Read MoreIn re Creagh (Kansas 2019)
If parents agree to a child support arrangement in a marital settlement agreement, it will be enforced as long as the terms are clear and unambiguous. The parents divorced, and a basic child support obligation was set. In the property settlement agreement, the parents agreed that the child support would be offset to pay two…
Read MoreState of Tennessee ex rel. Haynes v. Daugherty
In a contempt proceeding, a court may not impose a cash-only bond. This violates the parent’s constitutional right to pretrial release, equal protection, and due process. In this contempt case, contempt was filed against the father for failure to pay child support, and the trial court set a cash-only bond. The court set bond as…
Read MoreAlexander v. Alexander (Tennessee 2019)
A judgment for child support arrears, which is based on a child support amount different from that shown on the child support worksheet of record, is void. In their divorce, the parents agreed to no child support. In return, the mother was to contribute to a college fund for their children. The trial court adopted…
Read MoreMitra v. Irigreddy (Tennessee 2019)
Child support arrears should be paid in a timely manner. The court has discretion to craft an appropriate repayment plan. The parents divorced in Texas. The mother was awarded custody of their daughter. Both parents moved frequently, within the United States and to India in the following years, and visitation was an issue. At one…
Read MoreYoung v. Air Masters Mechanical Inc. (Mississippi 2019)
Overruled by Young v. Air Masters Mechanical Inc., 2020 Miss LEXIS 96 (2020). A child support lien is valid even if the children have been subsequently adopted. The father and mother were married and had two children. They divorced, and the father was ordered to pay support. The mother remarried, and her new husband adopted…
Read MoreKaelter v. Sokol (Kansas 2019)
An order requiring a response to post-judgment discovery requests is not a final decision for purposes of appeal. The collateral order doctrine also doesn’t apply. The mother sent the father post-judgment discovery to determine his income and assets to aid in collecting child support arrears. The father didn’t answer the discovery, and the mother requested…
Read MoreState v. McColery (Nebraska 2018)
Appearance bond funds held by a clerk of court are not personal property registered with a county office for purposes of the child support lien statute. An automatic lien does not attach to these funds. A father, who owed child support arrears, was arrested for strangulation. He posted an appearance bond. He hired private counsel…
Read MoreContreras v. Contreras (Tennessee 2018)
A parent who fails to provide insurance as ordered may be liable to reimburse the other parent for the costs of premiums. The father appealed a district court order that ruled against the him on a variety of issues. The order entered judgments against him for arrears and for the cost of medical support premiums…
Read MoreState ex rel. Townsend v. Williamson (Tennessee 2018)
A parent may receive credit against any owed arrears for necessary expenditures, but the suit must be brought within six years of the expense and meet the definition. A parent has an obligation to support a child even in the absence of a valid court order. The father appealed a court order that did not…
Read MoreState ex rel. Lytle v. Webb (Tennessee 2018)
Adequate findings must support the determination of an arrearage amount. The father appealed an order setting arrears. The arrears were determined in a modification order, but the state filed to alter/amend the arrears amount. The court amended the amount, and father filed to set aside this order. He argued that there was no evidence to…
Read MoreState on behalf of Mariah B. and Renee B. v. Kyle B. (Nebraska 2018)
A contempt finding requires that the parent willfully violate the court order. The parent must have the present ability to comply with the purge conditions. The father appealed a contempt order for failure to pay support. He argued that the nonpayment was not willful and that he couldn’t comply with the purge conditions. The Supreme…
Read MoreSpires v. Simpson (Tennessee 2017)
In a wrongful death action, a parent, who seeks recovery for the death of a child yet owes child support for that child, cannot recover any proceeds until satisfaction of the child support arrears. The mother and father in this case married and had a child. The father left when the child was young, but…
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 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 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 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 MoreNguyen v. Heller-Nguyen (North Carolina 2016)
Vested child support arrears are not subject to offset.
Read MoreState ex rel. Creighton v. Hayner (Tennessee 2016)
A judgment for arrears entered in 2005 was void because of improper service on the non-custodial parent.
Read MoreCaldwell v. Atwood (Mississippi 2015)
A court cannot outright forgive child support arrears.
Read MorePalagi v. Palagi (Nebraska 2001)
The emancipation age of a child is typically a non-modifiable provision, and credit against owed arrears will not be given for college tuition payments.
Read MoreGress v. Gress (Nebraska 1999)
A noncustodial parent is entitled to a credit against a monthly child support obligation for Social Security benefits paid to his or her minor child as a result of the non-custodial parent’s disability.
Read MoreState on behalf of LLB v. Hill (Nebraska 2004)
Child support arrears will not be forgiven under an equity argument if a parent’s lack of diligence lead to the accumulation of the arrears.
Read MoreCain v. Jacox (Kansas 2015)
The doctrine of res judicata will not bar a claim for post judgment interest on a child support obligation when a parent was not a party in a prior proceeding or in privity with a party to a prior proceeding.
Read MoreOrtiz v. Ortiz (Kansas 1956)
The marriage of a minor child does not automatically terminate the child support obligation of the minor.
Read MoreBrady v. Brady (Kansas 1979)
When a child attains the age of majority, or when a child goes to live with the other parent, or when a child dies, the obligation to pay support for that child should automatically cease and terminate unless an agreement provides otherwise.
Read MoreHooks v. Hooks (Kansas 1988)
A valid judgment for child support arrearages may be collected and enforced in the same manner as any other final judgment.
Read MoreIn re Marriage of Peak (Kansas 1989)
A child support obligation terminates “when a child goes to live with the other parent” is clarified and restricted to situations where a permanent change of residence is involved.
Read MoreIn re Marriage of Walje (Kansas 1994)
Where support is paid directly to custodial parent, rather than through the channels specified in the support order, the non-custodial parent who has not fully complied with the support order and will be found to be in arrearages.
Read MoreRocha v. Rocha (Wyoming 1996)
In a divorce action, a trial court has discretion in concluding that a father’s child support payments can or cannot offset the parties’ original property settlement.
Read MoreHollingshead v. Hollingshead (Wyoming 1997)
In the absence of statute, a decree for periodic payments of child support creates sequential judgments enforceable under the statutory procedures for enforcement of judgments.
Read MoreIn re Marriage of Schoby (Kansas 2000)
Child support may be modified at any time circumstances render such a change proper, but the modification operates prospectively only.
Read MoreStarkey v. Starkey (Wyoming 2007)
Father cannot receive credit against arrears based on prior voluntary overpayments.
Read MoreGrenz v. State, Dept. of Family Services, Child Support Enforcement (Wyoming 2011)
A father cannot recover overpayments or have them applied to his future support obligations.
Read MoreIn re Marriage of Hohmann and Hohmann (Kansas 2012)
Lump-sum social security disability benefits received by mother on behalf of her minor children because of father’s disability may be credited toward father’s child support arrearage that accumulated during the months covered by the lump-sum payment.
Read MoreIn re Marriage of Taber (Kansas 2012)
Lump-sum Social Security disability insurance payments for back benefits received by mother on behalf of her minor child because of father’s disability may be credited toward father’s child support arrearage that accumulated during the months covered by the lump-sum payments.
Read MoreIn re Marriage of Brown (Kansas 2012)
If a motion for modification has not been filed, any court-ordered modification operates prospectively only, and the district court is not authorized to vacate or discharge past-due child support.
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