Passport rules snag child support cash
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070815/...hild_support_9


WASHINGTON - The price of a passport: $311,491 in back child support payments for a U.S. businessman now living in China; $46,000 for a musician seeking to perform overseas, and $45,849 for a man planning a Dominican Republic vacation.
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The new passport requirements that have complicated travel this summer also have uncovered untold numbers of child support scofflaws and forced them to pay millions.

The State Department denies passports to noncustodial parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support. Once the parents make good on their debts, they can reapply for passports.

Now that millions of additional travelers need passports to fly back from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and South America, collections under the Passport Denial Program are on pace to about double this year, federal officials told The Associated Press.

In all, states have reported collecting at least $22.5 million through the program thus far in 2007. The money is then forwarded to the parent to whom it is owed.

Some people never learn.

A boxer paid $39,000 in back child support to the state of Nevada last year to get a passport, which he lost. This year, his promoter had to loan him $8,930 so he could pay off his new child support debts and get a new passport to fight overseas.

In one case last year, a man got his parents to pay his overdue child support ? $50,498 to the state of Illinois.

"For us, it's been amazing to see how people who owe back child support seem to be able to come up with good chunks of money when it involves needing their passport," said Adolfo Capestany, spokesman for the state of Washington's Division of Child Support. "Folks will do anything to get that passport, so it is a good collection tool."

The $22.5 million reported to have been collected through the program this year is a conservative estimate. Some states voluntarily report the payments to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, but other states don't.

It took all of 2006 to collect the same amount under the program, which began in 1998.

Also contributing to the increased collections was a drop in the threshold for reporting child support debts to the State Department, from $5,000 to $2,500. As a result, 400,000 more cases were submitted to the department.

The state of Washington obtained $24,000 for Teresa Markley through the program. The money accrued over a couple of decades. She said she could have really used the money in past years, and at one point in the 1990s went on welfare for a few months to make ends meet. While her children are now grown, she said the payment still meant a great deal to her.

"What it means to me now is just to have some validation for the suffering I went through," said Markley, a resident of Tacoma, Wash.

Jeannette Dean of Renton, Wash., a Seattle suburb, said she had to tap into her retirement savings and her son's savings bond to help pay for basic necessities after Washington state was unable to help her collect delinquent child support payments.

But this year, she received about $36,000 through the passport program. She said the money will be used to replenish the lost savings.

"It has given back to having a normal life versus struggling to pay dental bills and hospitals bills and things like that," Dean said.

The passport denial program is just one of several tools the government has to collect overdue child support. Overall collections totaled about $24 billion last year.

The largest share by far ? $20.1 billion ? came from withholding from a worker's paycheck. Unemployment insurance or state and federal income tax refunds can also be seized. States with lotteries also can deduct delinquent payments from winnings. Some states submit the names of those behind on their payments to credit reporting agencies.

Payments generated through the new passport requirements are an important sliver of what states collect each year on behalf of about 17 million children, said Margot Bean, commissioner for the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement.

"We often get payments of over $100,000," Bean said. "For whatever reason, this was the only way we could get the money."

For some families, the payments can mean the difference between having to rely on the government for assistance or not relying on it, Bean said. In cases where families have needed cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, a portion of the payments received through the passport program is used to reimburse the government.

Another jump in collections from the Passport Denial Program can be expected next year or in early 2009. That's when the new passport requirements will likely take effect for land and sea travelers too.

great, assholes should support their own kids

good news

And I bet they thought they were home free too. Child support is tough to cover for some guys, but still, you don't skip out on helping with your own kids. Damn deadbeat dads!

They should do the same thing for drivers licenses and such. Child support isn't optional.

I agree that child support should be paid, but I've seen a few friends get ass raped on it. The Ex wives tend to abuse the money too more often than not.

Would have to agree on child support, tho as crockett said, there can be abuse by both parties.

Irrespective of the nature, this is yet another method of "capturing" US citizens. Issuing passports are just that - they have nothing to do with child support, breathing, drivers licenses, taxation et al.

It's all about control.

I wonder how much of that goes to the state...

I agree dead beats should pay, but this is truly going to suck for the guys who have to travel for work, or better yet said "are sent on travel" for an employer.

Child support has always been an iffy issue with me. On a personal level I'm against abortion, but wouldn't support laws banning it. And I feel people should certainly pay for child support. On the other hand, it's hard to use logic and say a man should be forced to pay child support if birth/abortion is 100% in the womens hands. It takes two to have a baby and it takes two to make sure proper protection is used. If a man wants an abortion he's screwed if the women doesn't, if he wants the child he's screwed if she doesn't.

I have a friend that has full custody of his two daughters and the courts said his ex wife doesn't have to pay child support because of what he makes. Know another guy who's ex wife is a lawyer and makes over $200K a year and he still has to pay about $2000/month for child support.

Anyways, that's just my little rant on how one sided the laws are. :upsidedow

The laws are definetely one sided. Guys get the shaft 99% of the time. If women really want equality, they should get it. All of it.

I had to take a lower paying job once and after child support was taken out my take home check was 192.00 a week. :(

In GA, nothing goes to the state. If you didn't get an order to pay through the state in your divorce, you (the custodial parent) pays a 1 time fee of $25 (it was $5 when I filed) to get the order. If you're on welfare, you pay nothing. The custodial parent then gets every penny the state is able to get from the non-custodial parent.

I guess my ex won't be going outside the US any time soon :)

I pay the state just under 5 bucks every week. Kinda gives me the ripped off feeling. Could be like a dollar or two but they have to fucking rape you.

ould have to agree on child support, tho as crockett said, there can be abuse by both parties.

Irrespective of the nature, this is yet another method of "capturing" US citizens. Issuing passports are just that - they have nothing to do with child support, breathing, drivers licenses, taxation et al.

It's all about control.

That sucks, wheres your friend live? I live in California and I have had full custody of my 5 kids since 1996, my ex-wife hadn't sent a dime in 10 years, I just blew it off until last when she tried claiming them on her income taxes after never supporting them and only seeing them about once a year so I got pissed and went down and filed for child support collection, I didn't expect shit but they ended up going after her like a fucking barracuda, she keeps changing jobs trying to stay ahead of them and they keep finding her and sending me 40% of every check she gets.

They have her for 60k back child support, current child support and they call me every month to go to court on my behalf and get the monthly payments doubled, they don't give a shit that shes a woman

good news, these assholes should pay what is owed. HOWEVER, this is propaganda setting you up for harsher laws IE National ID cards and more.