According to ACES (The Association for Children for Enforcement of Support) “The Federal Office of Child Support Preliminary Statistics for 2004 reports over $107 Billion in accumulated unpaid support (up from $100 billion in 2002) is due to 17 million children in the United States.” That is a whole lot of money that is supposed to be paid to help our children. In addition, the national average of custodial parents who actually receive child support is only 51%.
Obtaining your court ordered child support payment is not always as simple as having the court deduct it from your ex’s paycheck. Sometimes the non-custodial parent will leave a job, and not submit the appropriate paperwork with his or her new employer to have the support deducted directly from the paycheck. Or the paperwork somehow gets lost in the tangle of bureaucracy. That is where your local child support enforcement agency is supposed to step in to help.
According to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) “State Child Support Programs locate non-custodial parents, establish paternity, establish and enforce support orders, modify orders when appropriate, and collect and distribute child support payments.” Sadly, this system is not working. The fact is that between 50-68% of custodial parents(Depending on what state you live in) are not receiving their court ordered child support payments in full. Don’t worry though-You can download a nifty 93 page book titled “Handbook On Child Support Enforcement” from the OCSE to guide you through the process of obtaining the child support payments your children need. I suppose taking the time to wade through the government legalese in this book might be beneficial if the reader can glean the right information to help with payment enforcement.
There are private companies who can help you and the court track down your ex and recover past payment as well as establish current and future payments, but they come with a hefty cost. Most of the companies such as National Child Support, Support The Kids , and Support Collectors do not charge any fees up front. Once your ex is located and payment is established a healthy percentage of that payment-somewhere between 30 to 50% is kept by the enforcement company. In this case, I suppose that 50-70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
Beware if using a private collection company because often they will charge an intake fee and a fee for utilizing lawyers. Look for a reputable company that will not charge any fees until the support is secured. Support Collectors claims that they charge no up front fees even if their lawyers are utilized in court on your behalf. They only get paid if you get your child support. Carefully screen any potential private company you might choose to help your children get the support you need.