More People Falling Behind On Child Support Payments

[The Straight Story]

More People Falling Behind On Child Support Payments

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The economy is taking a toll on child support payments, Franklin County Children Services said Friday.

Overall collections are down by nearly $4 million, 10TV News reported. Children Services said the drop is due to the state economy and a loss of jobs.

The agency said it has seen a 40 percent increase in requests to review child support cases.

"We offer them the opportunity to have a review and adjustment of their support order because, their support order should really match their financial circumstances as they exist," said the Child Support Enforcement Agency's Susan Brown.

Despite the drop, Franklin County still ranks second in Ohio for keeping payments current.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2010/01/15/story-columbus-franklin-county-child-support.html?sid=102

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

1. Why don't they just xdemand child payment as a % of income?

For example, assign someone 15% of income and whether or not the earning conditions change, the child support amount fluctuates with it. that way yuo don't have unemployed people owing spouses $500/wk... or people with significant income increases skirting the system.

[lunatica]

2. What if some of these defaults are because of unemployment?

I bet a lot of them are, since they were being paid before and not now.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. For one, that would be extremely expensive in terms of monitoring compliance.

What would be very helpful is to make sure that noncustodial parents are aware that the support levels can be adjusted for serious drops in income and that those parents also have easy access to hearings to make temporary adjustments in the support orders.

I'd also like to see an easy process for adjusting child support orders upward when the noncustodial parent's income increased substantially too.