The collection of child support has become even more difficult during the last years of general economic hardship. But government, State and Federal, wants payment to be made and has provided a large amount of help. If a parent does not pay child support, he or she is subject to enforcement measures to collect regular and past-due payments.

Prior to 2006, there was a three year statute of limitations for collecting on a judgment for child support arrears. The statute of limitations for collection of child support was eliminated in 2006. The following are some of the enforcement measures for collecting past due child support.

• Passport Restrictions: Passport applications may be denied by the U.S. State Department. Presently, Federal law prohibits the issuance or renewal of a U.S. passport to anyone with child support arrears of $2,500.00 or more and allows the government to revoke or limit previously issued passports to such individuals.

• Driver’s License Suspension: A valid, active Arizona license may be suspended if a parent willfully fails to pay child support for six months or more. This means the parent cannot be issued a new license or renew an existing license until the past due child support is paid in full or a satisfactory payment agreement has been reached.

• Suspension of Professional or Occupational License: A parent can also have his or her professional license or occupational license revoked or suspended if the parent deliberately has not paid child support for over six months.

A Court in Arizona has just granted you spousal maintenance and child…

Military members typically receive many benefits for their service to our country. These benefits may be counted as income when calculating child support in Arizona. For instance, a military member may receive money for a housing allowance or the military member may receive free housing rather than a housing allowance.

In the Arizona Court of Appeals case of Patterson v. Patterson, the Court ruled that the value of military-provided on-base housing might be included in a parent’s income for child support calculations, based on the court’s determination as to whether the value of that benefit is significant and reduces the parent’s living expenses.

The court’s opinion relied on the language in the Arizona Child Support Guidelines which states that “income from any source” is includable as gross income. These guidelines also require the cash value of “other non-cash benefits” be counted as gross income if they are significant and reduce personal living expenses.