How Does Texas Pursue Child Support Evaders?

In Texas, child support payments are taken very seriously under the law. Because children have so many different needs, it is imperative that the noncustodial, supporting parent make every effort to keep up with the payments, make certain they are made on time and paid in full. Unfortunately, there are times when a supporting parent does not fulfill his or her obligation. It is then that the state has to take steps to ensure that the parent pays or faces the legal consequences until the payments are up-to-date.

The state’s Office of the Attorney General has formulated a program to identify parents who are found to be delinquent in their payments. This will be done publicly with photographs displayed as well as profiles of them posted in various locations both public and private. Various tactics are used to ensure that the delinquent parents’ identities are known so they can be located. Posters, the news media, and numerous other strategies are utilized.

Citizens are encouraged to provide tips to law enforcement to identify these delinquent parents. For a parent to be designated as a child support evader, the following circumstances must be in place: the amount that the parent owes must surpass $5,000; there must have been an arrest warrant issued for the supporting parent; the parent must be avoiding apprehension; the parent must be found not have made regular payments over the previous six months; the parent must not be in the midst of a bankruptcy or a recipient of welfare; the custodial parent is required to sign a confidentiality waiver to allow personal information to be shared with the public; there must be a photograph available to identify the delinquent parent.

The idea behind pursuing noncustodial parents who are delinquent in making support payments is not to punish them but to get the payments that are supposed to be made for the good of the child. Those who are not receiving the required payments need to understand how the process works when it comes to getting those payments and how the state can help. Speaking to a legal professional experienced in child support is the first step.

Source: texasattorneygeneral.gov, “Child Support Evaders,” accessed on Nov. 26, 2015