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What is involved in collection of child support?

6/17/2015

 
22.  Welcome back!  Let’s talk some more about collection of unpaid child support. Unfortunately, child support ordered does not necessarily result in child support paid.  What is involved in collection of child support?

            KRS 403.240(2) provides that the failure of either party, without good cause, to comply with a provision of an order, shall constitute contempt of court, “and the court shall remedy the failure to comply.”  So, from time to time, it may be helpful to tactfully remind the judge of his or her duty to remedy the failure to pay child support ordered to be paid.  

            As a family court judge, I had over 100 cases on my Wednesday afternoon dockets involving people who had failed to comply with my orders to pay child support.  Contempt of court is tricky.  As jail time is a possibility, the defendant is entitled to counsel at a contempt hearing.  He or she must be shown to have the ability to have complied with the order; otherwise, there would be good cause for the failure to comply.  When a guy is in jail or prison, child support continues to accrue, but he generally has no ability to make the payments!

            If a finding can be made that he failed to pay without good cause, he is subject to sanctions.  That could involve jail time, but again, he can’t pay while he is in jail.  It could involve probated jail time, and the law requires that he has the opportunity and ability to comply with the terms of probation, so that means he has to have a job or can get a job in order to make payments.

            One effective approach to this problem is requiring the defendant to go to specific substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, or job placement programs.  This generally takes time, and arrearages continue to accrue while he deals with the problems that caused the contempt. 

            Far too often, just when we get a guy ready to get a job, he fathers another child, relapses on drugs, and gets arrested on some other charge. 

            For a thorough overview of the problems related to contempt of court for failure to pay child support, read the Kentucky Court of Appeals case of Ivy v. Barnes, 702 SW3d 838.

            The realities are that far too often, child support will never be collected, regardless of contempt of court. You may share my frustration on collection of child support, but at least you know a little bit more about the process.

            Have a great day!


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    Judge John Schrader is a Husband, a Father, and a Lexington Attorney providing legal and mediation services in the office of Sherrow, Sutherland & Associates, P.S.C.

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    CHILD SUPPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS
    1. Who is required to pay child support in Kentucky?
    Publish Date: April 29, 2015
    2. What do I do to obtain a Kentucky Child Support Order?

    Publish Date: April 29, 2015
    3. How is child support calculated under the guidelines?
    Publish Date: April 30, 2015
    4. What is considered “gross income” for child support calculations?
    Publish Date: May 5, 2015
    5. How do I find out what the other parent's income is?
    Publish Date: May 6, 2015
    6. What about income from self-employment or business income?
    Publish Date: May 7, 2015
    7. What if a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed?
    Publish Date: May 13, 2015
    8. What if one parent is paying maintenance?
    Publish Date: May 13, 2015
    9. Is there an adjustment to a parent's "gross income" if he or she is supporting a prior-born
    child?

    Publish Date: May 13, 2015
    10. What happens in a split custody arrangement where Sissy lives with Mother and Jr. lives with Father?
    Publish Date: May 20, 2015
    11. When can a judge deviate from the child support “guidelines”?
    Publish Date: May 20, 2015
    12. When the parents' combined monthly adjusted gross income exceeds $15,000 per month, how is child support calculated?
    Publish Date: May 20, 2015
    13. How does Kentucky law deal with the big-ticket item of childcare expense?
    Publish Date: May 27, 2015
    14. Do parents have to maintain private health insurance for their child, and if so, who pays
    for it?

    Publish Date: May 27, 2015
    15. Who pays for deductibles and co-pays and how do we deal with extraordinary medical expenses not covered by the insurance?
    Publish Date: May 27, 2015
    16. How does a parent actually recover the proportionate share of extraordinary medical expenses from the other parent?
    Publish Date: June 3, 2015
    17. What if I find out the other parent has not been paying for childcare even though I have been paying for my share?
    Publish Date: June 3, 2015
    18. How do I get a modification of child support in Kentucky?
    Publish Date: June 3, 2015
    19. When does child support terminate?
    Publish Date: June 10, 2015
    20. Is a Wage Assignment Order required for child support in Kentucky?

    Publish Date: June 10, 2015
    21. What does the court do about child support when the child spends a considerable amount of time with both parents?
    Publish Date: June 10, 2015
    22. What is involved in collection of child support?
    Publish Date: June 17, 2015
    23. How does the law deal with enforcement of the child support order when my ex and I
    live in two different states?

    Publish Date: June 17, 2015
    24. If Kentucky does not have jurisdiction over the other parent of my child, what is the UIFSA process to deal with establishment, enforcement and modification of child support
    orders?

    Publish Date: June 17, 2015
    25. What about parents who were not husband and wife to each other when their child was
    born?

    Publish Date: June 24, 2015
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