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When Parents Move to Avoid Child Support

Many Kentucky parents who have gone through a divorce have child support orders in place that require their children’s other parent to pay monthly support. Unfortunately, some parents are deadbeats who willfully attempt to avoid paying child support and sometimes move to other states in order to evade their obligations.

The federal Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act is a law that was passed in 1998 and that can be used to punish parents who flee to other states just for the purpose of avoiding their child support obligations. Parents who move to other states intending to avoid child support payments and who then fail to make their payments for more than a year may be punished if they owe more than $5,000. Parents who have moved and who have not made child support over two years may be punished if they owe more than $10,000.

Parents who are found guilty of violating the act may be imprisoned for up to six months for first offenses and for up to two years for second or subsequent offenses. The court may also order them to pay back child support that is equal to the amounts of their arrearages. The cases may be filed in state court in the child’s state, in the state of the parent who owes child support or in any federal court.

Child support should not be evaded by parents who are ordered to pay it. The courts believe that both parents should contribute to the upbringing of their children financially and otherwise. Parents who are owed child support might want to talk to family law attorneys about getting help with locating the other parent and enforcing the child support orders that they have. Family law attorneys may file motions to hold the deadbeat parents in contempt of court and seek garnishments and other sanctions to help their clients collect.