Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

Re: Child Support Arrears...

We can go to court to obtain a Judgment and then ask the court to add an additional amount to her ongoing child support obligation (usually 20% of her current payment) each month until the arrearages are paid back. We offer a free initial consultation. Please contact me if you would like to meet to discuss this matter further.

Re: Child Support Arrears...

Thank you for your question regarding child support arrears.

You basically have three options when a child support obligor goes into arrears. First, you can obtain assistance from the child support office in your county. You must first apply for collection assistance, which is available to anyone who receives child support. When the county is collecting child support, it will invoke a variety of collection remedies after the obligation is more than 30 days in arrears, including license suspension. Ordinarily, however, the county will not help with arrears accumulated before you apply for collection assistance.

Second, you can reduce the arrears to judgment. Nothing more than a motion is required to do this, but you will only be able to use ordinary creditors remedies to collect support -- garnish wages, or a bank account, for example.

Finally, you can bring a contempt motion and request an order of conditional confinement as an inducement to the payment of support. The county can do this if it providing collection assistance, but most child support offices are painfully slow.

Which remedy is appropriate depends on a variety of factors (whether there is an ongoing support obligation, the obligor's employment status and assets, etc.) I would encourage you to contact the child support office first (if there is ongoing support), and contact a lawyer for assistance with a motion.

Re: Child Support Arrears...

Getting a judgment is easy. Collecting on the judgment may be a lot harder if she is effectively judgment proof. To get the judgment just apply to the court in the child custody case to reduce the unpaid support to judgment. You will have to supply testimony as to what is due and unpaind.