I don’t like the term “deadbeat dad.” Both dads and moms can be ordered to pay child support, and both moms and dads can fail or refuse to pay their child support. In any event, when a parent becomes chronically delinquent in his child support obligation, how can the obligation best be enforced? How can a recipient of child support (“obligee”) maximize her chances of receiving child support regularly from the person ordered to pay (“obligor”)?
The court action the obligee must take when the obligor fails or refuses to pay his child support obligation in full is to file a motion to enforce the obligation. In the motion, the obligee should seek a judgment for all child support arrearages, with interest, as well as a finding of contempt against the obligor. Another request the obligee may include is a request that the judge refer the case to Accountability Court.
At the time of the support enforcement hearing, assuming the family court judge finds that arrearages are owed, the judge may hold the obligor in contempt of court, and the judge will enter a judgment for arrearages and interest against the obligor in favor of the obligee. Usually the judge will also order that the obligor make monthly payments toward the arrearages on top of his regular, monthly support obligation.
An additional effective tool now available to family court judges is to refer the delinquent obligor to Accountability Court. Accountability Court is simply a division of the Court (one assigned judge) whose duty it is to monitor delinquent child support obligors to make sure they are paying their obligations. The delinquent obligor is usually required to appear for a short court hearing before the Accountability Court judge every one to two months.
At those short hearings, the Accountability Court judge will review court records to verify that the obligor is making the payments ordered by the family court judge. If the Accountability Court judge finds that the obligor is not making court-ordered payments, the judge can take the action she deems appropriate, including finding the obligor in contempt and incarcerating the obligor until the payments are caught up.
Accountability Court is presently only a resource available to family court judges to deal with delinquent child support obligors. Family court judges are not required to refer delinquent obligors to Accountability Court. Because Accountability Court can be such an effective way to deal with chronically delinquent child support obligors, however, some practitioners and many child support obligees believe a referral to Accountability Court should be mandatory when an obligor has become delinquent for several months.
Copyright © 2011 by Scoresby Family Law – J. Kyle Scoresby, P.C. All rights reserved.