Legal Question in Criminal Law in South Dakota

Re: fugitive from justice

If court ordered child support is not paid, a whole range of enforcement options are available to court. A judgment against the obligor for arrears can be awarded to the child support recipient. Further, the obligor can be found in contempt for not paying support and jailed until he enters into a payment plan and agrees to pay support, or makes a substantial payment on the arrears. The obligor's driver's license can be suspended. In the most extreme cases, it is possible to charge an obligor with criminal non-support, although that is unusual. Typically, delinquent support obligations are enforced by finding the obligor in contempt, and by imposing a jail sentence if he fails to pay.

Such enforcement actions will usually be taken by the county attorney where the obligor lives. (Assuming the obligation is being collected through the child support office.) If the obligor lives in Hennepin County (Minneapolis), then any action taken to enforce the obligation would take place in Hennepin County, regardless of where the child lives. The fact that the child lives in SD, and that the obligor has never lived in SD, is irrelevant.

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