Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Minnesota

sue for back childsupport

My sons father is suppose to pay court ordered child support. He has done everything in his power to avoid making these payments. There is records with the child support office of him starting jobs and quiting as soon as the state withholds money from his check. The amount of child support due to me at this time is well over $10,000. Recently, he was arrested on serious drug charges and will most certainly be doing prison time for a few years. I am wondering if I have an option to go to court and ask for his valuable personal belongings such as stereo equipment, tv, vcr, collector art prints and things of this nature be awarded to me as ''payment'' for some of what he owes me. We were in a 10 year relationship and aquired most of these things together as a unit, however I never put up a fight to claim these items when we seperated. All of these items are in storage and they will certainly not be of any use to him for the next few years. Do I have a right to his property because of his non-payment of child support?


Asked on 10/09/03, 2:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Kelly-952-544-6356 Kelly Law Office

Re: sue for back childsupport

The short answer is: that would be very difficult to do.

You would have to:

1)get the child support reduced to a money judgment.

2)have the clerk of court issue an execution.

3)get the sheriff to take the execution and levy upon the property.

The sheriff would probably refuse to seize the property because most of it is exempt. There are exemptions for personal and household goods.

In my opinion, you might as well forget it.

Just for the heck of it, however, see if you can talk this over with your worker from support and collections.

This response is for general information purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. You are advised to consult the lawyer of your choice concerning the details of your case.

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Answered on 10/10/03, 11:39 am


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