Kenya N. Rahmaan
While exposing the true purpose of the child support system in America, which is arguably collecting money to be retained by the state, there may be confusion between child support and child support arrears. The Free Dictionary defines child support as a payment that a non-custodial parent makes as a contribution to the costs of raising their child. There is minimal disagreement about the need for financial support when raising children. When the custodial parent does not receive public assistance, and the parents have a mutual agreement void of government involvement, child support arrears never enter the realm of their families.
Child support arrears occur when the courts get involved by voluntary or involuntary enrollment and can be extremely expensive, in many ways, to the non-custodial parents. Anna Assad of Demand Media defines arrears as past-due child support owed to a custodial parent. Unfortunately, the monies are not due to the custodial parents because the government owns the payments in public assistance cases. The money, when collected in most cases, is retained in full by the state. Child support arrears consist of unpaid child support that the state includes, such as interest, late fees, penalties, and any fines added to the total amount.
These additional costs can include medical bills, daycare expenses, or other expenses that have not been included in the child support order but have been deemed a financial responsibility by the custodial parent and the court system. The interest charged on late child support payments is one of the leading causes of huge child support arrears, or debt, accumulating so rapidly in such a short amount of time. More than half of the states in the US charge interest on child support debt. Based on the National Conference of State Legislatures or NCSL (2013) report, interest rates range from 4% in Mississippi and New Mexico to 12% in states such as Kentucky and Colorado.
Even though the government acknowledges that parents owe most child support arrears with low or no income, the system is a trap for parents charged interest when they cannot afford the regular payments. One study conducted by Sorensen, Sousa, and Schaner of The Urban Institute (2007) showed that 40% of the current obligors have no or low reported income, but they generated 60% of the unpaid current support. The government should not expect parents struggling to pay support to pay even more money for the imaginary debt created by thin air in interest. Public officials have made it nearly impossible to forgive child support debt no matter the circumstances, thanks to the enactment of the Bradley Amendment.
This amendment mandated that child support arrears be considered a judgment by law (Sorensen et al., 2007). This law permitted states to keep people in debt for indefinite amounts of time. According to Douglas Reid Wiener of the American Law Division, the Bradley Amendment prohibits the retroactive State modification of child support arrearages. Even in situations where paternity fraud has occurred, the man named as the father is still responsible for child support arrears. Child support arrears are why states report such vast amounts of arrears compared to documented support allegedly owed by non-custodial parents.
When looking at the child support collections in Alabama, the open 230,000 open child support cases demand an alarming amount of arrears. According to NCSL (2014), the current support due in 2013 was $431,286,947 while the arrears owed was $3,143,992,093. Alabama charges 7.5% interest on late payments and only offers one debt forgiveness program to its parents who have fallen behind on child support payments. The program is offered on a case-by-case basis and has strict criteria before the agency grants approval to the applicant. An interest rebate law allows the forgiveness of interest owed to the state and the custodial parents in cases where current support is paid consistently for at least 12 months (NCSL, 2014).
An eye-opening catch to this and many debt forgiveness programs is that the custodial parent must agree with the terms of the program. Because many child support cases are bitter, the discretion of any decisions made falls to the agency, and they can decide against granting relief. Besides that, the government will not forgive because of The Bradley Amendment. Like so many others, this program only offers an illusion of possible debt forgiveness, but in reality, the state will never forgive the debt.
In keeping up with the other 49 states, Florida reports a disproportionate amount of current support owed compared to the amount of arrears owed in approximately 855,000 open child support cases. The amount of current support owed in 2013 was $2,087,249,201, while child support arrears totaled $7,407,508,809 (NCSL, 2014). There is no set interest amount in Florida for late payments; however, officials evaluate the interest because the child support order is a judgment in a court of law. According to NCSL (2013), interest charges are assessed by the clerk of court in the county that issued the order or otherwise maintained the official payment record.
The process explains why the arrears are so much higher than the money that parents owe on paper. Florida does not offer any specific debt forgiveness opportunities, nor are the limited programs offered regularly. Debt continues to accumulate with no chance to waive the money owed to the state or the arrears. Overcharging parents creates a disservice to children.
Finally, in Michigan, the difference between the support owed and arrears is astronomical. The NCSL (2014) reported that the current amount of support due was $1,430,429,570 in 2013, yet the arrears owed were $8,406,415,371. Legislators prohibit the state from charging interest on child support debt; however, they have found a loophole to charge a penalty on late payments anyway. The penalty surcharge is calculated at six-month intervals at a five-year US Treasury bill rate plus one percent per annum (NCSL, 2013). This law explains the considerable difference between the support owed and the huge arrears amount.
Michigan offers a few programs to reduce arrears, but the parent must meet strict criteria before a caseworker considers a waiver. One of the laws allows non-custodial parents who cannot pay the arrearage in full, presently or in the foreseeable future, to request a payment plan (for a minimum of 24 months) (NCSL, 2013). The problem, of course, is that most parents who owe child support debt are under or unemployed. The majority of parents would not owe any obligation if they had money to pay child support. The law violates equal protections that are supposed to protect low-income citizens.
Most working and wealthy people never face the severe punishments that directly result from not paying extremely high arrearage amounts. Although some states offer some form of a debt forgiveness program, the sheer volume of the arrearages across the country proves that the programs are ineffective in reducing child support debt. The debt continues to grow while the chances of the children collecting any of the money shrink. The arrears are mainly state-owed, and the arrears are state property because of the mandatory assignment of rights to child support.
The Bradley Amendment prohibits retroactive debt forgiveness on child support arrears in any situation. The child support system guarantees that parents will always be in debt if, for whatever reason, they cannot afford the child support payments. The money owed to the state could be better spent on the children, especially since the program is supposed to be operating in the children’s best interest. It is time to force the government to change the child support laws because they legally rob children, parents, and families across the nation.
References:
Assad, A. (n.d.). Definition of Unassigned Arrears in Child Support | LegalZoom: Legal Info. Retrieved from http://info.legalzoom.com/definition-unassigned-arrears-child-support-24736.html
The Free Dictionary. (n.d.). Child Support legal definition of Child Support. Retrieved from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Child+Support
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2013, May). Interest on Child Support Arrears. Retrieved January 22, 2014, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/interest-on-child-support-arrears.aspx
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2014, May 20). 2013 State by State Data on Child Support Collections. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/2013-state-by-state-data-on-child-support-collections.aspx
Sorensen, E., Sousa, L., & Schaner, S. (2007, July 11). Assessing child support arrears in nine large states and the nation. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/assessing-cs-debt/report.pdf
Wiemer, D. R. (n.d.). The bradley amendment: Prohibition against retroactive modification of child support arrearages. Retrieved from http://congressionalresearch.com/RS20642/document.php?study=THE+BRADLEY+AMENDMENT+PROHIBITION+AGAINST+RETROACTIVE+MODIFICATION+OF+CHILD+SUPPORT+ARREARAGES
