NJ: Court: Pay interest with child support

Can we get any more spin on this?? CSE already tacks on interest, fees and
misc. penalties!!! Just who is McHugh trying to fool with this blather???
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index....520.xml&coll=1

Court: Pay interest with child support
Ruling targets deadbeats

Monday, April 17, 2006
BY MARGARET McHUGH
Star-Ledger Staff

Deadbeats who don't pay their mortgage, taxes and other bills on time rack
up late fees and interest charges that inflate the debt -- except when it
comes to child support.

"It's been a dirty little secret in the system for a long time," said John
Paone Jr., a Woodbridge family law attorney.

Child advocates say New Jersey parents who don't pay support on time are in
essence taking interest-free loans from their children, and the state allows
it. The Department of Human Services, which is in charge of the system, has
a policy not to charge interest on overdue child support because it is not
equipped to calculate or collect it.

However, a recent appellate court decision would change the policy. On March
27, a three-judge panel ruled the Department of Human Services is obligated
to charge interest when it goes to collect against a deadbeat parent's
assets.

The appellate decision stemmed from a 2004 Bergen County case in which
Teaneck resident Winifred Pryce sought not only $7,000 in unpaid child
support but also $15,500 in interest from her estranged husband. Patrick
Anthony Scharff paid the $35-a-week support for his daughter only
intermittently over a 17-year period, and there was a 79-month stretch when
he paid none, according to court papers.

The Department of Human Services objected, saying it had the right to decide
whether to charge interest and had opted against it. A Bergen County judge
upheld the department's position.

Attorney Roger Radol felt so strongly the judge had erred that he took up
the case on appeal without charging Pryce and recruited the help of the
Seton Hall University School of Law's Center for Social Justice.

"Hopefully, this case will rectify a long-overdue wrong to custodial parents
who have not received interest on money they are due," Radol said.
The Department of Human Services hasn't yet decided whether it will appeal
the ruling, which it claims would be costly to implement.

"We're still evaluating our next step," department spokeswoman Suzanne
Esterman said.

Some $2.4 billion in child support is owed custodial parents, according to
Human Services' records. Probation, a division of the Administrative Office
of the Courts, does child support collection for the state.
"Right now, Probation doesn't have a way to calculate interest," AOC
spokeswoman Winnie Comfort said. "The Human Services computers don't do it."

While the Department of Human Services agrees that overdue child support
could be subjected to interest, it doesn't want to be responsible for
calculating or collecting it. Instead, it says the custodial parent could
sue in civil court.

Most parents owed child support lose out on the interest because they don't
go after it on their own, said Bonnie Frost, chairwoman of the New Jersey
State Bar Association's Family Law Section.

"People just end up being happy to get anything," Frost said.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Dennis Conklin argued in court papers for the
Department of Human Services that collecting interest on overdue child
support was "a cost-incurring activity that is not reimbursable by the
federal government." The U.S. government covers 66 percent of child support
collection costs.

Collection of interest would cut into additional federal incentive payments
that are based on how well the state collects child support, Conklin
claimed.

In the 30-page court opinion, appellate Judge Susan L. Reisner said the
state didn't substantiate that contention and noted such a policy would be
contrary to the goal of child support laws, which is to reduce the need for
public assistance.

It would "help shift money due to children from welfare to their dads,"
Seton Hall law professor Claudette St. Romain said.

Out of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories, 37
collect interest, according to the federal Office of Child Support
Enforcement. In fact, New Jersey collects interest on out-of-state child
support judgments, according to the ruling.

Family law attorneys say charging interest should improve the collection
rate, not hurt it.

"People pay better if they fear some repercussions," Paone said.

The court ruling only requires probation officials to charge interest when
the entire amount owed is to be paid off, either when the delinquent parent
comes forward to settle up or when the agency finds an asset that can cover
back payments. Probation would not have to calculate interest as arrears
accrue, but if the parent who is owed the money calculates the interest,
probation would be required to add it onto the amount owed, the decision
said.

In Pryce's case, Radol had a computer program designed to calculate the
interest.

St. Romain said interest on child support arrears "is kind of tricky to
calculate" because the base amount can change weekly and the interest rate
is set annually by a court ruling. This year, it is only 2 percent on
arrears under $15,000 and 4 percent on arrears $15,000 and above, but in
prior years, it has been as high as 12 percent.

Still, St. Romain believes the state ought to be doing it, and like Radol,
she doesn't think the appellate ruling went far enough.

St. Romain said she hopes Kevin Ryan, the new Department of Human Services
commissioner, will take "the broadest collection steps" and include interest
in the child support collection system.



Margaret McHugh covers the Morris County Courthouse. She may be reached at
or (973) 539-7119.

I would say that New Jersey Residents have been lucky....other states
have been charging interest for years....and if a child is several
years old before paternity is established....the interest dates back to
the day the child was born....

"Erin" wrote in

the interest dates back to the day the child was born....

Where did this insane concept ever come from?

"Erin" wrote in message
oups.com...
I would say that New Jersey Residents have been lucky....other states
have been charging interest for years....and if a child is several
years old before paternity is established....the interest dates back to
the day the child was born....

It depends on the state. Where we are they could only go back 2 years from
proof of paternity. And that, believe me, was enough!!



--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

"DB" wrote in message
. net...

"Erin" wrote in

the interest dates back to the day the child was born....

Where did this insane concept ever come from?

Rad-fems, feminazis, stupid politicians, misguided wing-nuts.. You name it,
they all jumped on board to insure that the Nanny State could make certain
that Mommies had a taste of the good life that their husbands never had (or
could provide).

Honesty, integrity, fair play, commonsense and equality are NOT the things
one will find in anyone that backs the above kind of "laws".