Child Support the Lien that Never Ends
66Or at least not in the USA
Those of us who live in the USA and face and have Children have an obligation to provide support for those Children. That would be the narrow US world view to leave it at that. It is the responsibility of parents around the world to provide for their children. The 1992 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a binding convention signed by every member nation of the United Nations and formally ratified by all but two, declares that the upbringing and development of children and a standard of living adequate for the children's development is a common responsibility of both parents and a fundamental human right for children. You can read more about this on Wikipedia. The gist of this act by the UN makes pretty much impossible to hide from Child Support anywhere in the world.
Unlike the USA most countries have some sort of reasonable statute of limitations on this debt. As any biased Judge can make pretty much any determination he wants up to the maximum state guideline. These guidelines very from state to state according to cost of living; however, here in the good old USA we have liberal Senators that get amendments added to bills that create this scenario created by the Bradley Amendment:
The Amendment was passed in 1986 to automatically trigger a non expiring lien whenever child support becomes past-due.
· The law overrides any state's statute of limitations.
· The law disallows any judicial discretion, even from bankruptcy judges.
· The law requires that the payment amounts be maintained without regard for the physical capability of the person owing child support (the obligor) to make the notification or regard for their awareness of the need to make the notification.
So you can see that is some pretty harsh things, however that is the law in the USA.
So as the for requestor of this Hub, time is of no issue, if the person owing the said back child support is alive you can collect and you have some really nasty means to this end available to you:
"Consequences of non-payment vary by jurisdiction, the length of time the parent has been noncompliant, and the amount owed. Typical penalties include wage garnishment and denial or suspension of drivers, hunting and professional licenses. In the United States, noncompliant parents who are more than $2500 in arrears may be denied passports under the Passport Denial Program. Noncompliance may also be treated as a criminal offense, and may result in prison sentences, fines and property seizure" (Wikipedia)
So in a nutshell this is what is available to you to collect, the question is how do you collect. Collection is an art as much as a procedure so I will give the starting points.
First, you take your judgment and go to your states enforcement section. This will start the chain of events. If your child is no longer small you will have to go to the district Attorney to start your collection procedure. The DA can have wages garnished, property seized and sold, and if there is a business involved he can have the Sheriff do a till tap, this where the sheriff stands in the place of business and takes the money directly out of the register as it comes in. If this is not enough the DA can file criminal charges and have the offender jailed.
I hope this answered the question as always my contact info is in my profile ask any questions as necessary.
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Comments
The answer is yes maybe. An adult child is entitled to back child support, but that time limit on filing for yourself is typically 5 years after reaching the age of 18.
That doesn't mean it is over, that means you may have to convince a judge to renew the order. In either case, you are going to need a lawyer to continue the process. Not, sure how much one will charge you somewhere between 250 and 350 an hour here in sunny San Diego.
Hope that helps. I didn't ask but is your father still alive? If he is not then the debt is settled and cannot be attached to his family. Even if they are loaded. Again hope this is of some help.
TMG
Thanx for checking me out ship-mate....looking forward to being a fan and checking out some more of your work.
Great reply to a request.
MoneyGuy, good treatment of a difficult subject. In many cases, the man (or woman) in question is not capable of making the payments. In that case, in order to get the delinquent non-custodial parent out of trouble, many times it is the parents of the parent whose child support is in arrears who pay the fee. In many other cases, the new spouse of the parent ends up paying the child support for the children of the parent's previous marriage. This means that the children of each succeeding marriage are deprived of income in order to pay the child support for children produced in an earlier union. This creates a kind of hierarchy of obligation to earlier born children at the expense of children one is currently living with and raising.
When arrearages for the support of adult children are levied against people who are still supporting minor children, this in effect takes the food right out of the mouth of minors to give it to adults.
Well I for one, having raised three children without the help of my X salute the law that goes after the deadbeats. I worked for 70-80 hours a week to make sure that my children had everything. While he was living his life with only himself to think about. We do not have the same laws here in Canada unfortunately my children can't go after their Dad for any money not even College funds. The law will enforce the support payment while the children are minors but once they're adults thats that.
Great hub... a very touchy subject to many Moms
regards Zsuzsy
Great info for custodial parents and their children to understand the laws that enforce the noncustodial parents' duties to their children.
I am just glad that my wife didn't leave me, lol. So I raised my 4 kids without the fear of child support.
I know a guy who had kids in different counties. The guy is a slave to the state of California.
i used to work for an attorney who handled both bankruptcy and child support cases. i can't tell you how many people tried to file bankruptcy to get out of paying child support...both men and women. so sorry for them. not.
Thank you all for the comments and reads!!
TMG
Hi, TMG... I am initimately aware of the consequences of child support liens, as they have affected my father, with his first marriage, and now 50 (?) year old 'child' who has decided to now collect on behalf of the mother. Oh, did I mention it was proven the child in question was not his child? A mess! Because my Dad has had a stroke, it is our best option, and the advice of our lawyer not to pursue this legally, but to pay what is 'owed' in small amounts until someone expires, literally....
Also, my partner, whose children have been living with us--has tried to petition the child support he 'owes' to his ex-wife be stopped. It is insane that they required him to pay this even when he suffered a severe injury while working as a geological engineer in AK years ago and now he owes her 'arears.'
Kinda disgusting. My solution: Don't get married, lol, and don't have kids! Some women are as dead beat as men & on this, as you see, I support the men.
Lita,
You just achieved superhero status in my book, The problem with folks such as myself and your partner and your father is we have committed the great sin of being a productive member of society. That elite minority that supports the mammoth mass of shitheads that refuse to pull their load.
Don't get me wrong, but I know in my heart of hearts my ex wife fought for custody solely to get the money as she could care less to what happens to the kids as long as the check shows up. Such is life I love my kids and do my best to see they are cared for and nurtured even if it is just every other weekend and holidays.
TMG
Wonderful HUB!!! I know all too well how difficult the Child Support Issue is....especially the San Diego Department of Child Support as well. Talk about "CARTE BLANCHE" authority!
mY hubbys ex has been collecting thru the SDCSS since 2003 instead of having a personal agreement as I had suggested. Instead he owes the state who no matter how much we pay always says we are behind ( even when we are not) as well as the fact I have audited them several times and found discrepancies which I fight and force them to amend. I am sick of it. Oh yeah did I mention the ex doesn't even have the kids ( they live with the grandparents because the MOM his ex lives in Tijuana) She uses the money for her new husband and two kids from that guy and not on teh kids she is suposed to be supporting. She is a LOW LIFE loser abusing the system. We have tried to tell SDCSS several times to no avail. We tried to get the kids too but they do not want to move to Northern Cali. So they stay with the ex's parents in Spring Valley. Well I hope one day soon this all ends......Only a few more years till they are 18.....
JJ,
You know they just make to much money of collecting the support to let it just walk out of their district like that. It is criminal, because they don't give the money to the kids.
TMG
hey its JJ again...still going through it with SD-DCSS...they are now reporting my husbands 1 account as 2 and the balances are both two different amounts that aren't even correct. I tell Experian its not correct and dispute it, they tell me to go to SD-DCSS to complain. I talk to Sd- DCSS and they tell my husband to go back to Experian. RUN AROUND!! I am so sick of them and I am tired of having to be the one doing all the work. Its ridiculous! There is only one account and they are making it look like he has a bunch of child support orders.... Any advice?????
sandra rinck says:
12 months ago
Hey I made the request, thanks for answering. I was asking because my dad, not my childs dad stopped paying child support when my brother and I were like five years old and left my mom with the heavy burden of two jobs and a miserable life.
Now that I have my own child and struggle continuously, with the added opening of a wound left nearly healed, I have had enough and feel like because my family on my dads side has money, has always had money and has abandoned us no matter how much we tried to have a relationship with them, that something is owed to me because I don't have an extended family.
I don't know the joys of having grandparents or the luxery of a stable family structure and I do not want that passed on to my kid. And it just pisses me off that to know that me and my brother are not considered family because my dad was an alcoholic who hurt my mom!
Twenty five years later, just the other day I am in contact with my dads other kids and I was just pissed. Pissed because I am looking at her with my family yet they love them and not us. And when I am looking and reading about how wonderfully structured their family is and looking at pictures of my grandparents who forgot about me...I am mad.
The question I have is, can I, not my mom go to the DA to start the process of collecting back owed child support?
Thanks TMG.