When one parent has physical custody of a child, he or she may rely on the help of the other parent to provide financial support to ensure a child’s basic needs are met. Problems can occur when one parent is late with payments or stops making them altogether. People in Michigan may wish to know more about recovering child support payments.
Going to court may be necessary to get a parent to fulfill child support obligations after a divorce, and the parent petitioning the court should bring as much information as possible to illustrate the current situation and the problem. This could involve information that shows one party has not paid. If possible, one should also bring documentation that shows previous attempts to collect payments.
Intended to prevent misconduct and prosecute those who do not honor child support obligations, the federal government created the Child Support Recovery Act in 1992. This option could offer relief if a state court could not help a custodial parent. This might be needed in cases where the parent making payments tried to hide or move to different states to avoid paying.
When seeking relief in federal court, a custodial parent must show that the other parent does not want to make payments and that this parent does not live in the same state as a child or children. For a case to be brought before federal court, the parent obligated to make payments must owe $5,000 or more and must have stopped paying for at least one year.
Custodial parents may be able to seek court intervention when not receiving child support in situations where child support agreements have been approved by the court. Getting court approval makes a support order enforceable if one parent stops paying. This also prevents a custodial parent from seeking a different amount of money.
