Morris County Child Support Enforcement Lawyer
Unmarried parents must support their children financially under state law. If one parent has been ordered to pay child support, the receiving parent has many options to have these orders enforced if issues arise. Failure to pay child support could lead to arrest, withheld income, passport application denial, the suspension of professional licensure, or even incarceration.
If you are experiencing a child support issue and would like to better understand your legal options, get in touch with a Morris County child support enforcement lawyer today. Being owed back child support can be a frustrating situation that does nothing but harm your child, but the situation could be rectified by hiring a qualified child support attorney. A child support lawyer could have a court formally intervene on your behalf and take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that the other parent complies with their obligations to help pay for your child.
How Could Child Support be Enforced?
A New Jersey parent who has stopped receiving child support or is receiving less than the court-ordered amount generally has two options for enforcing payment.
Office of Child Support Services
The first option parents could pursue is to contact the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) or visit the Morris County OCCS office. As a unit of the Department of Human Services, OCSS provides a wide range of services such as locating absent parents, establishing paternity, obtaining child support orders, child support record-keeping and enforcing child support orders against delinquent parents. The primary mission of the OCSS is to leverage its administrative authority to ensure that both state and federal child support laws are observed across the state.
The OCSS has a wide array of powerful tools that it could use to recover funds from “deadbeat” parents who have past-due child support accounts. It is able to withhold income from a delinquent parent’s paycheck, intercept tax refunds and lottery winnings, seize bank accounts, and more. However, if the local OCSS office is backlogged, a parent could pursue their second option and hire a family law attorney serving Morris County and go after the child support they are owed with the aid of court intervention.
File a Motion for Child Support Enforcement in Morris County
A family lawyer serving Morris County might be able to help a parent who needs to have a child support order enforced by filing a motion in court. The court will provide notice to both parents of the day and time of a child support enforcement proceeding. At a hearing, judges could examine the circumstances and determine what actions are necessary to enforce payment. Just like the OCSS, a judge could garnish the parent’s wages, seize their assets, or put a lien on any property they own to prevent it from being sold or transferred until the child support arrears are paid.
However, it is essential to remember that it is not allowed to cut off or reduce visitation time with the other parent, even if they owe money. Courts look at child support and child custody as separate matters and may even punish a parent for attempting to get back at the other parent in this manner. It is often best to pursue a solution through the OCSS or by hiring a family attorney with offices in or near Morris County.
Speak with Morris County Child Support Enforcement Lawyer Today
Child support enforcement is treated as a very serious issue and for good reason. Children of unwed parents should always have access to their combined incomes just as if they were married. When one parent does not pay their fair share, it is your child who suffers. Contact a Morris County child support enforcement lawyer today to learn more about your legal options to enforce payment.
